The guild called Chaldea
by MementoMori115
Summary: The Grand Magic Games have finally arrived, and wizards from all over the kingdom have converged on its location. However Fairy Tail won't be the only newcomer guild to take part in the competition. Just what is the guild known as Chaldea?
1. Chapter 1

"Hey there, it's me, Ajimu Najimi. Still standing in for MementoMori115 until I feel he's learned his lesson, which probably won't be for quite some time. Regardless, the idiot came up with this crazy idea for an xover that he is all but certain he won't be able to follow up on. He thinks it's a good concept, but he just can't pull it off. So he wants to just throw it out there to see if he can get any bites from an interested party.

Send a PM if you're interested and he'll give you the details on it."

**(-)**

The Grand Magic Games.

An event so spectacular and impressive in its enormity, that even the most isolated of individuals at least knew the name. The greatest competition between mage guilds in all of Fiore, it would without a doubt determine who the best among them is. Not only does the champion earn the prestige that comes with being the strongest, but a hefty prize of thirty-million jewels is more than enough to draw guilds in like a moth to a flame. That being said, only the strongest guilds are able to make the cut, while the rest are left behind in the dust. In order to win, a guild most face-off against the toughest competition in the kingdom.

Yet such menacing odds did nothing to deter Fairy Tail from throwing their hat in the ring. After the Sirius Island teams return, it was determined that winning the games would be the fastest way for the guild to rise back up from mediocrity.

And so they found themselves in the capital of Fiore, Crocus 'the city of blooming flowers'. The largest city in all the land, at its center lies the Royal Palace, Mercurius. And to the west is the stadium Domus Flau, where the games would be held. To say that the city gets its fair share of tourism would be an understatement. With the influx of tourists from the games, people would have to book inns several months in advance.

So since Fairy Tail has always been well-known for collateral damage, Makarov had all but demanded they be on their best behavior, lest they get kicked out before the games even begin.

"Now... the games begin tomorrow," Makarov explained as he pulled out a large book from his jacket and handed it to Erza. "This here is the rule book for this years games. Be sure to finish reading it tonight."

"We're supposed to READ that?!" exclaimed Natsu. "It's the size of a friggin' dictionary!"

"Don't worry guys!" Levy chirped as she put on a pair of glasses. "Leave this to me! I've got my gale-force reading glasses!"

"You're so reliable!" cheered Lucy.

"Let's see, there are three main points here; No guild master can participate, nobody with the guild mark can take part either, and the rules will be kept hidden until just before each match. Oh, and we all have to be at our inn by midnight."

"So until then, let's have some fun!" Natsu cried as he grabbed Lucy by the wrist and took-off down the street.

However, it wasn't long before Natsu's mood had gone sour. Due entirely to the two teens standing across from him.

"You..." Natsu growled low as he grit his teeth, fists clenched and trembling in anger at his side. "You monsters! You murdered your own parents?!" he roared at the two Sabertooth dragon slayers.

Sting merely laughed in amusement. "Naturally. That is what a dragon slayer does. Like how you expect a painter to paint, the purpose of a dragon slayer is to slay dragons."

"But they raised you!"

"Yes, and they did a fine job at it." remarked Rogue. "Let's go Sting, I have no interest in the old generation."

Even as the third-generation slayers left with their exceed in tow, Natsu continued to glare heatedly at them.

"H-how could they do such a thing?" Lucy said as her hands continued to shake uncontrollably. "Killing the ones who raised them..."

Natsu snarled one last time as the crowd dispersed and the antagonistic slayers exited his field of view. "They don't deserve that magic." he grumbled as his fist began to catch fire.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." came a strong voice.

Natsu, Lucy, and Happy turned to see a man approaching them from behind, having made his way through the crowd.

"It would be unwise to start trouble this close to the competitions start."

The man had quite a unique appearance to him. Lightly tanned skin and a mane of unruly silver hair, he was dressed in black leather-armor along with metal scale-plates. A dark cloak hung from his back, but did little to conceal the large sword that was underneath it.

From the way he spoke it was obvious that he was a member of another competing guild, yet he showed no hostilities towards them. At least, that's what it seemed to Lucy and Happy. Natsu on the other hand was frozen stiff at the mans presence. Every fiber of his being screamed at him that the man standing before them was dangerous. His blood feeling as if it turned to ice as soon as his eyes landed on the sword the stranger had strapped to his back.

Survival instincts working in overdrive, the pink-haired teen grabbed his two friends and quickly backed away from the man while still keeping him in sight.

"Natsu!" Lucy exclaimed in alarm at the sudden action.

"Who are you?" Natsu asked while barely maintaining composure.

His two companions were shocked by the amount of fear present on the slayers face. Something about the newcomer had put him on edge like they'd never seen before.

The man inclined his head for a moment before snapping his fingers as if realizing something. "Ah, my apologies. Being a dragon slayer, I wasn't quite sure what kind of reaction you have to me. Though I can assure you my intentions are far from hostile."

"Bullshit." Natsu immediately bit back. "Every instinct I have is screaming at me that you're a threat."

He shook his head. "Yet it seems your companions don't share your assumptions." he replied as he pointed at Lucy and Happy. "The only reason I am here is because I wished to see what a 'dragon slayer' is like. Though your reaction is somewhat concerning."

"What's he talking about Natsu?" asked Happy.

"When the prey is in the presence of a dangerous predator whose entire being is curtailed to killing them, it is only natural for their instinctual fear to take over." he explained cryptically as he crossed his arms. "I hear that your magic allows you to take on the aspects of a dragon. As such, your body is able to recognize the absolute danger that I represent."

The two sides remained still for a few moments in a silent standoff. Then the man hummed in satisfaction and turned to leave.

"In case you are curious, my name is Siegfried. And you needn't worry about me participating in the games. Our guilds team has already been decided."

Even after Siegfried had left, Natsu was still sweating bullets. It felt as if he had just barely escaped that confrontation with his life.

**(-)**

Jellal, currently disguised as former Fairy Tail member and his Edolas counterpart Mystogan, was stalking the streets of Crocus as part of his investigation into the strange magic phenomena that radiated from the city. Each year the same energy would radiate from the area, but never could he or his guildmates find the source. The only thing that they were certain of, was that the energy was eerily similar to Zeref's.

However this year was the worst yet. If the previous years were akin to a water faucet pouring out the energy, then this year it was like a waterfall.

Something had drastically changed in order for such an occurrence to take place. Yet he was no closer to finding the cause than he was to finding the source. He still had a few more hours to search before he was required to return to the inn his team was staying at, so he pressed on. And as he crossed another intersection, he felt it. A barely noticeable barrier that seemed to be mitigating the effects of the energy. Now having passed the barrier, Jellal would have to be blind to not pinpoint the energies source.

Maintaining composure, Jellal kept a steady pace as he made his way towards the epicenter of the barrier. Upon arriving at it, he noticed that it was located smack-dab on top of a rather large inn. And judging from all the magical signatures he was picking up, it must be housing one of the competing guilds.

While it is unwise to intrude on what essentially amounts to enemy territory during the games, the competition had yet to officially start and he had no intention to start trouble. Thus his 'infiltration' of the inn went out without a hitch as he had simply entered the bar/restaurant that was attached to the building. As he entered the establishment, he noticed just how diverse the members of the guild staying there were. Men and women of all ages and race were scattered about the place, each member dressed in outfits that differed greatly from one person to the next.

Not wanting to stand out by just loitering, Jellal made his way to the bar and took a seat near an orange-haired man wearing a green cape. As he waited for the bartender to make his way over, he decided to make idle chat with the other man.

"Quite the colorful array of people here." Jellal remarked as he glanced at a large-breasted woman with white hair. Her outfit was beyond exposing and she seemed to be talking to the small bear creature on her shoulder.

The man shrugged. "Eh, you get used to it after a while. However to some that could mean a few days, and to others it's a few years." after sipping from his tumbler, the man turned slightly to regard Jellal with a critical eye. "So, what brings a rival competitor to our home base?"

The only sign the Jellal was alarmed at being found out so quickly was a slight twitch of his lips which were still concealed beneath his mask. Though it would seem the man somehow noticed this, as he waved his hand in dismissal.

"Settle down, ain't like you're doing something illegal by being here. Just scoping out the competition, right? No rules that say you can't do that, as the games have yet to begin." the man said with a grin as rolled his wrist and swished his drink around. "Sure we could've done the same, but the bosses said that the other guilds needed a handicap. The least we can do is give you guys the element of surprise."

"... You make it sound as if your guild has already won." Jellal responded with a hint of annoyance.

Spinning on his stool, the man leaned his elbows on the bar as he faced Jellal. His hood had fallen off completely, revealing the mans rugged features. "Well let's just say that we have more than our fair share of powerhouses here." he replied before holding his hand out. "Call me Robin."

Briefly weighing his options, Jellal felt there wouldn't be any harm in obliging the man. Reaching to the outstretched hand, he grasped it in his own. "Mystogan."

"Ahh, real mysterious name ya' got there." Robin replied as he spun back to face the bar. "Just so you know, I'm not the only one here who took note of your presence." he added, further surprising Jellal. "It's just that everyone else who noticed is being polite."

"I... see." the wanted man remarked after a moment.

Although he hadn't drawn their ire yet, Jellal was certain that he wouldn't be able to subtly search for the source of the energy without alerting at least one of the more perceptive guild members around him. Though Robin showed no real care for general snooping, the same might not be said if Jellal was caught trying to pinpoint his target. That might be enough to stir up the hornets nest, and even he was unsure of his odds of escaping the bar should a fight break out.

Pulling his bandanna lower to further hide his face, Jellal stood up from the bar stool and turned to leave.

"Eh? Not gonna stick around for a drink? I could use the company." Robin spoke as he watched Jellal walk away.

The Crime Sorciere wizard shook his head in the negative. "Things will just get awkward with me around. I should go."

Shrugging, Robin returned to his drink.

Although he had failed to locate the exact source of the energy signature, Jellal was still satisfied that he had narrowed it down to his current location. He'd have to come back some time during the games when everyone was gone in order to do a more thorough investigation. That, or Ultear and Merudy would have to infiltrate the city.

Feeling an unnatural shiver run down his spine, Jellal cast a glance at one of the upper windows of the inn, where he saw a man watching him leave. Dark hair with a red strip of cloth wrapped around his head and a heavily tanned body that was covered in tribal markings, the wizard knew something was off about his observer from the way he was looking at him. The expression on his face seemed to say; close, but better luck next time.

Picking up his pace as he left, Jellal couldn't even begin to fathom the chaos that would unfold once the games reached their conclusion.

**(-)**

The roars of excitement and the cheers of joy from the spectators in the stadium could be heard all throughout Crocus. The first official day of the Grand Magic games had finally arrived and everyone was geared up for some action. Even more so for the competitors. And although Fairy Tail had been met with boos instead of cheers, the wizards were still ready for whatever would be thrown at them.

"_Well then, we are now down to our top three teams!" Chapati Lola exclaimed as he continued to provide commentary. "So now we have the team that finished third in the prelims, it's... Oh my! This is quite a shocker! Never would I have seen this coming!" the man bellowed as he kept the audience hanging on the edge of their seats in anticipation._

The next team made their way out to the field. And for the Fairy Tail team, it was a group of familiar faces.

"_Fairy Tail team B!"_

After a brief interlude of Team A throwing a fit at Team B, as well as Chapati explaining that multiple teams are allowed to take part but they are still required to compete against each other, he got the crowd hyped up once more for the next team.

"_And now we have the team who placed second! I wonder who it could possibly be?!" he announced as he glanced down at the lineup on the prompter. "So next is... Wait, WHAT?!" he suddenly cried in alarm. "This can't possibly be! It's simply unthinkable! How could this have happened?!"_

Though he was beyond shocked at who was next, Chapati was not angry because of it, rather he couldn't comprehend it.

"_Coming in second... we have the powerful guild who has never suffered defeat until now... Sabertooth!"_

To say the reveal was shocking would be an understatement. It would be like saying a nuclear explosions was nothing more than a firecracker. The stadium that was once roaring in excitement, had suddenly gone deathly silent as the most famous guild in Fiore marched out into the stadium. Far from their usual cocksure and arrogant attitude, the wizards looked absolutely livid. Not a single member of their team was willing to give a show of power. No fist-pumping, no roar of dominance, they looked ready to kill whoever approached them.

But at the same time this begged the question; if the top guild in the Kingdom came in second, then who was first?

"_I-I can see that this is quite shocking to us all..." Chapati said weakly. "But it's time for us to introduce our first place team. They only popped up in the last year, but it seems they've been taking the land by storm."_

The seven other teams could begin to make out the shapes of figures exiting the last tunnel.

"_To have come out on top of Sabertooth, that says something about their strength, its Chaldea!"_

Five individuals stepped out into the arena, and their image was burned into the minds of all present. In the furthest back stood a tall figure clad in black-metal armor that was covered in spikes and had a skull-shaped helm. In one hand he held a large obsidian sword, and in the other was a tower-shield that had a large skull imprinted in its center.

The second furthest back was an individual who was of indeterminate gender. Their features were very gender ambiguous, as was their age. With a fair complexion and green hair that flowed down their back, they were dressed in nondescript white robes and lacked footwear.

Standing to the left of the lead person was a youthful looking man whose face could melt the heart of any woman he looked at. His white hair was tinted blue making it almost look silver, which went well with his blue and white robes. Combined with his staff he was the epitome of your typical wizard, yet he managed to look good doing it.

To the right of the lead person was another young man, although his white-hair contradicted that fact. His skin was noticeably tanned which when combined with his short white-hair, gave him a resemblance to Elfman. Dressed in black armor with a red shroud, he held the team flag high as he marched forward.

And standing at the front was a woman was looked equal parts regal and beautiful. She wore an elegant blue and white dress with armor over top that would make Erza jealous. With fair skin and emerald green eyes, her silky blonde-hair was tied in a bun at the back, save for the bangs that framed her face and the single unruly ahoge that stood tall regardless of her movements. And sheathed at her side was a sword contained in an elaborate scabbard.

However as she made her way with her team towards the center of the arena where everyone else was, the dragon slayers among them began to tremble ever so slightly. For they did not see a gorgeous woman with a regal bearing, but instead saw a massive dragon that was bearing down on them.


	2. Chapter 2

"Ajimu here again, acting as the representative of author-san until I see fit. I'll tell you right now, this story ain't about quality or drama or anything substantial in terms of plot. It's just the interactions of Chaldea with the Fairy Tail-verse. And just because they aren't on the main team, doesn't mean that the other Servants won't have their own scenes outside of the matches. Author-san mainly wrote this to try and kick-start more ideas for an xover between these two series. You know, make your own Chaldea team for the Grand Magic Games and such.

If you have some ideas you think would be interesting to see here... Then go write your own fic."

**(-)**

"_Well then, shocking developments aside, now that we've seen all the teams it's time for the games to get underway!" cheered Chapati as he continued to comment from the announcers box. "What do you think of the lineup this year, Yajima-san?" he asked the elderly man sitting next to him. _

"_It musht be nice to be sho young." _

"_Err, that's not quite what I meant. But anyway, it's the moment you've all been waiting for!"_

At his exclamation, a large stone tablet rose from the arena's center and displayed the setup for the games. The first three days would be a contest followed by a battle, the fourth day would have a tag battle instead, and the final day was blacked out completely.

"_Now, allow me to explain how the scoring system will work. For the contests, points will be awarded based on how each participant ranks during them. The higher your rank, the more points you get! Each team can only select one member to take part in the challenge. As for the battles, the participants will be decided based on the sponsors as well as the audience votes, so you won't know who is fighting until just before it. In terms of points, the winning team will receive ten points and the losing team gets none. But in the case of a tie, both teams get five."_

"_And now without further delay, we have the opening contest; Hidden! Each team is to select one member to take part, and the rules won't be explained until all participants have been chosen."_

Without even being prompted, the imposing-looking man of Chaldea stepped forward.

"**This one is mine."**

His voice was deep and distorted, and sent a shiver down the spines of those present.

"As long as you do your best, we will be satisfied." spoke the only female on the team.

The man gave a 'hmph!' of acknowledgement as he took his place at the arena's center. Once there, he remained deathly still as his 'eyes' (if the blue lights in his helm were anything to go by) swept across the other teams. He was sizing them up.

Ichiya of Blue Pegasus gave a quick pose as his face seemed to sparkle. "Alright men, who wishes to show this rabble just what we are capable of?"

"Not it!" squeaked Hibiki.

"Not it!" Ren added quickly.

Eve spun around at his teammates apparent betrayal, and found that even the bunny-man had his arms crossed in an 'X'.

And so Ichiya, ever the idiot that he is, struck another pose as he pointed at Eve. "Go forth men! And start this competition with a victory for us!"

The diminutive blonde gave a weak smile and thumbs up. "S-sure." he said as he stepped forward.

A country-looking girl from Mermaid Heel perked up as she joined the other participants. "First, we need to get a feel for the games. So y'all leave this one to me!"

The short man with the big chin from Raven Tail grinned when his masked leader glanced at him.

"Nullpudding, go."

"Got it boss!" he responded happily.

The Sabertooth team looked amongst themselves as they watched as one by one the other teams picked their participants. However the only team that they were concerned with was Chaldea. While the armored man did look rather intimidating, they figured in a game called Hidden he would stand out a bit.

Rufus huffed in amusement as he made his move. "Allow me. The birdsong sings to me of a cloudless day ahead." he remarked before glancing at the Chaldea man. "Though I can only hear of rain for you."

After Lyon from Lamia Scale joined in, Gray from Fairy Tail A found it necessary to compete, which pulled in Juvia from team B.

"_And so we have our competitors! From Fairy Tail A we have Gray Fullbuster! From Fairy Tail B we have Juvia Lockser! Lamia Scale has sent in Lyon Vastia! Then we have Beth Vanderwood from Mermaid Heel! Blue Pegasus has sent out Eve Tearm! And Sabertooth has chosen the man who always has a way with words, Rufus Lore! As for our first place team, they have sent in... err... It just says here; The First Hassan... I hope he doesn't mind if I just refer to him as Hassan."_

If Hassan was displeased with Chapati's remark then he didn't show it, as he remained quiet.

With everyone chosen, there was a burst of smoke and when it cleared, the same small person from the prelims who wearing a pumpkin head had appeared.

"Alright punkin!" he exclaimed excitedly. "Now that everyone is here, it is time to explain the rules of this game!"

After a detailed explanation of the rules of the game, a mock-city was created in the stadiums center, and all the participants were teleported to random locations in it. Moments later, the entire city was filled with copies of each person.

"Let the games, BEGIN!"

As soon as they were given the go ahead, each player began to move.

"Urgh! This is gonna be annoy-" Gray spoke as he made his way through the copies. Only to instantly be struck in the back of the head. Quickly turning, he saw the imposing figure of Hassan looming over him. "How?!"

The large armored man retracted his fist and quickly vanished in a burst of black flames.

"_What's this?!" exclaimed Chapati. "Not even ten seconds in and Hassan of Chaldea has already scored the first point!"_

Gray cursed as he picked himself up off the ground. "The hell is his problem?!"

Moments later in another section of the city, Juvia was doing her best to restrain herself from hugging every Gray clone she saw. And just as with Gray, she was suddenly struck from behind by the same skull-helmed man.

"_Again?! Hassan has already struck two of his opponents with seemingly little effort!"_

Upon hearing the announcement, Eve of Blue Pegasus felt a shiver travel down his spine as the same fist that hit Gray and Juvia collided with his stomach.

**(-)**

"He seriously doesn't plan on holding back, does he?" remarked Mordred from her seat in the stands with the rest of Chaldea.

"No, he doesn't." answered Jing-Ke. "To an assassin, the smallest mistake can mean failure, and failure often results in death."

Lancelot (Saber) hummed in agreement. "While the other teams spent time on deciding who they would send for this challenge, he was gauging them, discerning who the easiest targets would be."

The blonde woman smirked. "And now he just works his way up the food-chain." she said as Hassan dispatched Beth from Mermaid Heel.

By now the three remaining competitors who Hassan hadn't attacked were on edge. Each one wary of whether or not they would be next on his list.

"Tch, who does this bastard think he is?" Nullpudding remarked with a sneer. "Beating down the weak is _my_ job."

Having determined the amount of time between his attacks, the Raven Tail mage spun around and swung his spike-covered fist at the black flames behind him.

"Gotcha!"

However Hassan had easily blocked the attack with his shield.

"**Hmm, impressive." **Hassan remarked as he bashed Nullpudding with his shield before kicking the oddly-proportioned man in the face.

"Son of a bitch!"

By the time Nullpudding recovered, Hassan had already vanished.

Elsewhere in the arena Lyon on Rufus were now on guard for the inevitable attack against them. Lyon was ready to implement a wide-spread ice spell to repel Hassan, while Rufus was more lax as he left a memory of himself behind as bait. The Sabertooth mage felt particularly confident.

'_They may have beaten us in a race to the finish during the prelims, but facing us in direct competition is another thing entirely.' _he thought with a smirk as he waited for the announcement that Hassan had scored a point against Lyon. _'He is far too obvious in his approach.'_

Thus it came as great surprise to the memory mage when Hassan broke his attack pattern and came for him next. The sound of flames erupting was the only warning he got before he quickly rolled to the side to avoid being smacked by a shield.

Rufus glared at his imposing attacker. "And here I assumed you were attacking us in the order of our strength." he remarked as he raised his guard.

Hassan remained impassive. **"It is foolish of you to assume that one such as I would adhere to a predictable pattern. Even more so for you to assume you are the strongest here. But worry not, I will come back for you."**

The man vanished in another swath of flames, much to Rufus' annoyance.

Despite the ever-present threat of Hassan's out-of-nowhere attacks, the rest of the competitors did their best to work around him and earn as many points as possible. However as time began to wind down the other competitors were getting desperate. Hassan had remained inactive for longer than usual so Rufus decided it best to make his move, despite the fact that he was probably walking into a trap.

Standing atop the tallest building he could find, he unleashed his attack. "Memory Make; Night of Falling Stars!"

Multiple beams of light launched into the sky before crashing back down on the other competitors throughout the city. Not even waiting to hear the announcers confirm his attacks hit, the masked man flipped backwards off his perch and landed on a nearby roof. Just in time too, as Hassan had reappeared where he was previously. The assassin looked down at his target and then leapt down to join him on the same roof.

"I remember. I remember it all. The weight of your steps, the shifting of your armor, the sound of your fire." Rufus remarked as he prepared for their clash. "You will not get the drop on me again."

"**I have never failed in eliminating my target..." **the large man said as he pulled the broadsword from his back. **"When my blade falls, all shall fall with it."**

Plunging its tip into the roof beneath him, Hassan remained rooted in position. The memory mage was confused by his actions, seeing as time was almost up for the round. Why wasn't he making his move?

_It was faint... The distant chime of resounding metal..._

"**Our Lord in Heaven has forever guided me, and never has He led me astray..."**

_It steadily grew louder... An ominous ringing that echoed exactly every five seconds..._

Rufus slowly reached up to one of his ears, the sound finally registering in his brain and filling him with a growing sense of dread.

"**Hearest thou the bell? It tolls the end of thy fate..."**

The memory mage quickly snapped back to attention. "Memory Make; Glacial Tempest!" he shouted as he created a storm of ice and snow that rushed towards Hassan.

The assassin vanished once again.

"**The Evening Bell rings for you..."**

His voice emanated from all directions, causing Rufus to panic.

...

...

...

*Ring* *Ring* *Ring*

"**Praised be our Lord..."**

The pommel of a sword struck Rufus across the face and sent him tumbling off the roof and into a food-stand below.

**(-)**

"_This is completely unprecedented! Sabertooth has been beaten in our first contest!"_

"_It ish a big shuprise indeed."_

The scoreboard was projected for all to see via a large lacrima in the stadium's center.

Chaldea- 20

Sabertooth- 11

Raven Tail- 8

Lamia Scale- 6

Blue Pegasus- 4

Mermaid Heel- 3

Fairy Tail B- 1

Fairy Tail A- 0

The pumpkin announcer then danced back out and grabbed everyone's attention. "Let's hear it for our first place team, punkin! Chaldea has started out strong and are keeping that lead!"

It went without saying that Chaldea had just taken priority for Sabertooth to crush. While their team looked livid, save for the female of the group, their master in the stands was silently fuming. Failure was not tolerable. If it weren't for the fact that Rufus was one of his top wizards, he'd have him expelled immediately. He'll have to settle for punishment instead. As much as Ziemma didn't want to admit it, Chaldea was a notable threat to his guild.

But the audience was completely oblivious to all this. Instead, they were torn between cheering for Chaldea for winning, or booing them for beating Sabertooth.

"We will now move on to the battle portion of today's games, punkin!" the 'mascot' man cheered as the holographic screen shifted. "For our first match, we have Fairy Tail A's Lucy Heartfilia, versus Raven Tail's Flare Corona!"

**(-)**

"Yoho! Fifty jewel says that blondie wins!" Blackbeard crooned from his seat as he ogled Lucy through a spyglass. "Anyone else want in on this action?! Though that could mean more than one thing for the ladies, LOL!"

"Go suck the end of a musket." Mary Reed quietly remarked from her seat next to the infamous pirate.

"Aww, that tsundere personality of yours is very endearing~!"

"Sit the hell down ya' perv!" Cu Chulainn (Lancer) barked from behind said pervert. "You're blocking my view of the fight!"

"Not like you're missing much." spoke Orion from his perch on Artemis' shoulder. "Both of them still have their tops on."

Said goddess's eyes suddenly narrowed threateningly. "What was that dear?"

"Don't fault me for admiring other women, I'm just giving my honest opinion! Besides, yours will always be the best~!" the mini-bear responded as he jumped into Artemis' cleavage.

"Oi, stop your bickering! Something's up." Cu interrupted as he swiped Blackbeards spyglass from him. "The blonde girl ain't even fighting anymore."

"What?"

"She suddenly stopped moving and is just taking the hits from the red-head." the blue-haired man explained.

"Why's she doing something like that?!" whined Teach. "I like girl-on-girl action, but not like this :(!"

Ignoring the mans rant, Cu Chulainn noticed Lucy was glancing to the side and he followed her gaze.

"Mother fucker!" he growled in annoyance. "Red-head's got a hostage."

"What?! Where?!"

"Fairy Tail section. Front row, left side of the banner, little girl wearing a hat." he answered. "Who wants to take the shot?"

Anne stood up and lifted her rifle to aim.

"Can you do it?" Cu asked as he lowered the spyglass.

"No chance in hell I'm missing." the pirate responded as she slowed her breathing and lined up the shot.

The sound of her rifle firing was drowned out by the noise of the cheering spectators, and the musket round struck the bit of hair that threatened to attack the young girl.

Flare seemed to recoil in surprise from the shot, and panicked trying to find the source.

"_Anne, what just happened? I saw you firing your rifle." _came the voice of Ritsuka through their mental-link.

"Just freeing a hostage. I advise you keep a close eye on Raven Tail. It seems they don't plan on playing by the rules."

"_Got it." _the Servant Master of Chaldea then opened a link with another Servant. _"Kiritsugu, keep on eye on the Raven Tail team. If it seems like they're planning something, give them a warning shot."_

Sitting in one of the back rows with his wife and technically two daughters, the Assassin class Servant nodded in affirmation. "Roger that." he then stood up and turned to leave.

"Where are you going dear?" his Caster class wife asked.

Pulling a collapsible rifle out of his coat, he began to assemble the weapon. "Master has a target for me." he answered as he faded into the shadows.

**(-)**

"This ain't looking too good boss." Nullpudding remarked from his spot beside Alexei.

Kurohebi nodded in agreement as they watched Flare get overwhelmed by Lucy's growing magic power. "Think we should pull the rug out from under them?"

Alexei glanced at Obra before inclining his head. "Do it."

The silent man remained impassive as he slowly raised his hand.

*BANG!*

An object shot past Obra's face and embedded in the wall behind him. A moment later a trail of blood dripped down his face from the cut on his cheek.

Alexei's head snapped to the direction from where the shot came, but was unable to locate the sniper.

"What the hell was that?!" exclaimed the short mage of the group.

"_And after an amazing climax, we have the winner of our first match! The underdog team has finally made their move, Lucy Heartfilia of Fairy Tail A is our victor!"_

Alexei's gaze snapped to Makarov across the stadium, who was smirking confidently at his illusion Ivan. Watching the Fairies celebrating wildly at their win, he could only silently scowl beneath his mask.

**(-)**

"_And for our next match, we have our top two competitors! Here's a chance for Sabertooth to get some revenge, it's Olga Nanagia versus Enkidu of Chaldea!"_

The two fighters made their way into the arena and stared each other down. Olga cracked his knuckles in a show of strength and glared at his gender-ambiguous opponent. Not like it mattered though, he'd end it in a second regardless.

"I'm sorry, but have I done something to upset you?" Enkidu suddenly asked. "You seem to be glaring daggers at me, yet we have never interacted with one another before."

"Tch, doesn't matter if we've never met before. Your guild is making us look bad." the God Slayer responded. "If you were smart then you wouldn't have provoked us. Now I gotta crush you."

Enkidu chuckled softly as they shook their head. "I hear you are a God Slayer mage." they remarked offhand.

"Yeah. What of it?" the muscled man asked as he eagerly awaited the start of the match.

"Then you are most unfortunate to be facing me in combat." Enkidu answered just as the starting gong rang.


	3. Chapter 3

"Third chapter, 'nuff said."

**(-)**

"_Let the third match of the day, BEGIN!"_

As soon as the gong was rung, Enkidu rushed towards Olga with inhuman speed. The God Slayer merely responded by snorting in amusement and raising his hand.

"Lightning God's Strike!"

A bolt of black lightning fired from the mages hand which was aimed directly at Enkidu. Without even pausing in their charge, Enkidu twisted their body to the side and dodged the attack by a hairs breadth. Momentarily surprised that his attack had been dodged, Olga stomped his foot down just as Enkidu got within arms reach.

"Lightning God's Thunderous Impact!"

Enkidu quickly flipped backwards as the immediate area around Olga erupted in an explosion of electricity and formed a small crater. Landing on their feet, Enkidu pressed a hand against the ground while staring at Olga.

Confused for a moment, the God Slayer barely managed to react in time to the spears of energy that shot out from the ground in front of him. Bringing his arms up to guard, the green-haired man received several small cuts on his limbs even as he threw his body backwards. Returning his focus to Enkidu, he frowned in annoyance as several golden chains shot out from his opponents sleeves and flew towards him.

Olga didn't know exactly why, but his instincts were screaming at him that those chains were especially dangerous.

"Tch, Lightning God's Bellow!" Olga roared as a powerful surge of lightning shot out of his mouth to intercept the chains. Eyes widening in alarm as the chains passed through is attack with ease, the burly man ducked underneath and fired off his counterattack.

"120-mm Black Thunder Cannon!"

An even more powerful blast of lightning than his initial attack, the beam reached Enkidu before they had the chance to even notice it. With an explosion of voltaic energy, Enkidu was struck by the attack and vanished into the dust cloud that resulted from it.

"Hah! Got you ya' bastard!" Olga remarked with a smirk.

However his satisfaction was short-lived as even more chains emerged from the cloud of dirt and were poised to strike him. Firing off a blast of lightning to his side, Olga used the shock-wave to propel himself out of the way.

"Hnn, somehow still kicking I see." he opined with a grumble.

Finally clearing up, the form of Enkidu was once again visible to the spectators. And despite getting hit by such a powerful attack, they looked completely unharmed save for a bit of dirt on their robes. Dismissing the golden chains, Enkidu directed an impassive smile at Olga.

"I already established that having me as your opponent was a major disadvantage to you. Well, that may not have been my exact words, but the underlying concept was heavily implied."

"I don't know what you're going on about, but there isn't a single person here who has as much raw power as me. I am Sabertooth's strongest solo mage." the slayer responded with a self-assured grin. "My magic is strong enough to kill the God's, so you don't stand a chance against me."

Enkidu inclined their head slightly at Olga's remark. "Kill the God's you say? Well then, tell me how many you have killed so far?"

Olga raised his brow in confusion. "What are you going on about? There aren't any God's around for me to kill." he answered with a chuckle. "Probably all hiding in some far off land, cowering in terror and hoping I never find them."

Some of Chaldea's members bristled at that comment.

Meanwhile Enkidu shook their head in amusement. "Then you can't exactly call yourself a God Slayer if you've never slain a God. You can't be an author if you've never written anything, you can't be a mage if you don't know any spells, and you can't claim to be a slayer of God's unless you have accomplished such a thing."

A vein throbbed on Olga's forehead. "You're really starting to get on my nerves."

"I believe this is what's referred to as 'trash talking'. A common, if counterproductive, happenstance during fights."

"Shut up and fight already!" Olga shouted as he fired off another bolt of lightning.

Raising their arms, Enkidu produced blades of light from their hands and slashed downward at the incoming lightning, cutting the attack in half and diverting it to the side. Once the assault relented, Olga rushed at Enkidu with his arms cocked back.

"Lightning God's Smite!" he roared as he thrust both of his palms forward at Enkidu's chest.

The Chaldea mage brought their arms down and deflected Olga's thrusts to the side with their light-blades and countered with a punch to the God Slayers chest. With a small burst of golden light the larger man was sent flying across the arena. Olga then fired lightning from his palms to slow his momentum and regain balance. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he swung his arms forward and unleashed a massive swath of black lightning at Enkidu.

"Stay down already!" he yelled as Enkidu once again cut his attack in half.

"Unfortunately I can do no such thing." Enkidu responded, not looking the least bit exhausted from their clashes. "If I were to fall here, then my friend will stop at nothing to ensure you suffer the most painful death imaginable. Not even the entirety of our guild would be able to dissuade him."

They then regarded Olga with a kind smile. "Really, I'm doing you a favor here."

However Olga didn't appreciate the sentiment the least bit. He was more insulted than anything else.

"Shut up and fight!" he roared as he fired multiple bolts of lightning at Enkidu. Bolts that Enkidu blocked and deflected with ease.

"120-mm Black Thunder Cannon! Lightning Gods Charged Particle Cannon! Black Lightning Railgun! Overloaded Black Lightning-Rod!"

Olga fired off every attack he had in his arsenal at his opponent. From the 'weak' to the strongest, he threw everything he had at Enkidu.

"RAAAAGGHHHHH!" the slayer then rapidly began punching the air in Enkidu's direction. Each thrust of his fist launched another bolt of lightning that was strong enough to kill a non-mage. His attacks gradually increased in speed until there was no longer any break between them. Yet Enkidu continued to cut them down without fail.

"STORM,"

Olga's punches were unrelenting.

"OF,"

Like a hurricane of destruction that was all directed at a single person.

"THE,"

The lightning from his attacks were charging the air, causing the spectators hair to stand on end, and the clouds above seemed to darken and converge on the arena.

"LIGHTNING GOD!"

Olga finished his assault by slamming his fist into the ground, causing a massive bolt of black lightning to crash down on Enkidu from the skies above. The sky looked as if it cracked and shattered, and a deafening roar of thunder echoed throughout the arena. Glass shattered, electronic systems were fried, and a massive cloud of smoke concealed Enkidu's position.

He was heavily winded from unleashing the attack, but Olga grinned in satisfaction. There was no way Enkidu would be getting back up after that. Yet doubt began to creep into his mind. Why did the other members of Chaldea not look the least bit concerned?

No, that was the most powerful attack he had ever utilized. An attack designed for the sole purpose of defeating the first opponent he ever felt threatened by. And Enkidu was the first to feel its wrath.

Then he heard it. The faint sound of coughing emanating from the smoke. Moments later, Enkidu emerged from the smoke looking completely unharmed, save for their smoke-stained robes. Fanning away more of the smoke with one hand, Enkidu coughed again and took a deep breath of the clean air.

"You really should be more careful. Smoke inhalation is bad for your health." the robed individual opined as if nothing had happened.

"... You can't be human." Olga remarked in exasperation.

Suddenly the same chains from earlier erupted from the ground and wrapped around Olga's arms and legs. What little stamina he had remaining was quickly robbed from him as the chains tightly bound his body. All he could do was stand there immobile as Enkidu walked over to him.

"I told you at the beginning; it was most unfortunate for you to be facing me in combat." Enkidu spoke as they stood several yards away from Olga. With a quick gesture of their hands, the chains which bound Olga snapped his arms across his chest like a mummy. "You never had a chance at defeating me from the start."

Taking slow strides, Enkidu finally stood just within arms reach of Olga, who was glaring daggers at them.

"Your power is to kill the gods," Enkidu remarked as they pressed an index finger against Olga's forehead. "but mine is to bind them, and render them mortal."

With a light push, Olga fell to the ground on his back.

It had taken roughly ten minutes for the arena's broadcasting system to be restored to operational condition after Olga's attack, but the announcement that Enkidu was the victor went without saying.

**(-)**

And after an anticlimactic battle between Jura of Lamia Scale and 'Mystogan' of Fairy Tail B, the first day of the games had reached their conclusion.

1st place: Chaldea 31

2nd place: Lamia Scale 16

3rd place: Blue Pegasus 14

4th place: Sabertooth 11

5th place: Fairy Tail A 10

6th place: Raven Tail 8

7th place: Mermaid Heel 3

8th place: Fairy Tail B 1

Needless to say the results of the first day were beyond shocking. Sabertooth, the undisputed 'strongest' guild who everyone expected to place first, had dropped all the way down to fourth. What's more, Fairy Tail A, the 'joke' guild that everyone thought would be in last place, was trailing right behind them.

So although Fairy Tail B was still in last place, the entirety of the guild was overjoyed at their impressive showing on the first day. It wasn't exactly the best outcome for them, but being only one point behind the 'strongest' was quite the accomplishment. And with Fairy Tail being the rowdy guild that it is, a massive party was being held at their inn, Honey Bone.

"Today may have been tough, but we still showed 'em what we can do!"

"It's a longshot from first, but 5th is still better than anything they were expecting of us!"

"Since we're in 8th and 5th, that means if we average it out, we're actually in 3rd!"

"How does that work?!"

"Isn't it 8 minus 5 to get 3?"

"You're too drunk to do math!"

"Alright, listen up brats!" Makarov shouted as he stood on a table. "It's a strong start for us, but we still have a ways to go! We'll climb to the top no matter what, and win that huge cash pri- I mean, become the No. 1 guild in Fiore!" the master cheered as he raised his mug.

The rest of the guild hollered in agreement, and much revelry was had as they partied like there was no tomorrow. And with the alcohol being consumed like water, it wasn't long before a fair portion of the guild was drunk. The excitement even managed to draw in other patrons who were looking for a fun time.

And so it was that two already sloshed women stumbled in looking for more liquor to consume.

"Whoooo! Wheresh the party aht?!" one of the women yelled who was being held up by the other.

"The last place ran out of beer and sake, is there any left here?!" the other asked, who was less inebriated than the former.

The first woman's skin-tone was rather pallid, which clashed with the red makeup around her eyes. Hanging loosely at her waist was a large gourd-flask the appeared to be empty. The second woman had pale-pink hair that was tied up, and had several swords sheathed at her sides. But what stood out the most was the mark on the backs of their hands. A circle containing a wave-effect shaped like a 'C', and was wrapped in oak-leaves. It was the mark of Chaldea.

"More hotties to join the fun~!" Makarov cheered, drunk off his ass. Not really caring that members of a rival guild had just stumbled in. Then again, most everyone else was either too drunk, too disinterested, or too unconscious to care.

"Kind of looks like you had enough to drink already." Macao remarked as he noticed the shorter woman struggling to stand. "You can barely walk as it is."

The woman then burped. "I'm not too drunk ta walk, ahm too sober to shleep!"

"Here, here!" Cana agreed from her seat at the bar. "Get your butts over here and let's really party!"

Heedless of the chaotic party going on around them, the two women staggered over to the bar while somehow avoiding the numerous bottles, plates, and foods that were flung through the air.

Taking their seats at the bar, the pinkette placed a handful of bills on the bar-top. "Give us the best stuff you got!"

"Heeeyyy~, Musashi... Howsh come ya's got four swords wen ya' only evah use two at ah time?" the shorter woman asked with a slur.

"Well, I read this old story 'bout some fool who fought using three swords, holding the third with his teeth." the woman explained as she grabbed the bottle that was set down in front of her and necked the whole thing. "So I figured if I carried four that would make me the stronger person!"

"Uhh, how do you hold the fourth one?" Cana asked in curiosity.

Musashi then leaned over and made a shushing gesture. "That's a secret~. One I can't say in the presence of little kids~."

Fairy Tail's resident drunk flushed slightly at the implication, only to frown in annoyance when Musashi burst out laughing.

"Aha, ha, ha! Your expression was priceless!"

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up." Cana grumbled as she took another swig from her mug.

"Hey! I got a question for you two!" came the loud voice of Natsu as he stomped his way over to the newcomers.

"Eh? You want something pinky?" Musashi remarked lazily.

"It's salmon damn it! And you're one to talk!" he yelled as he pointed at Musashi's own hair.

"Whatever." the woman grumbled. "What do you want? Me and Shuuten are trying to get drunk... Err, more drunk."

"What is the deal with that Siegfried guy in your guild?" he asked with a hardened glare.

Musashi inclined her head in confusion for a moment before snapping her fingers. "Oh, you must be one of those Dragon Slayer guys. Sorry, but if 'dragon boy' didn't say anything about himself, then it's not my place to reveal his secrets."

"Listen here-!"

Natsu's tirade ended abruptly when Erza put him in a headlock and choked him out.

"Heh, I like how you guys handle things." the swordswoman remarked at the display of violence.

"Urr, Musashi... Ya' think we should do them tha' favor?" Shuuten asked as she polished off another bottle.

"What's this about a favor?" Erza wondered aloud.

"Ah, ya' see, if your team ends up pitted against ours in combat tomorrow, our masters are almost certain that you're gonna face Shirou from our team."

"How can you be so sure of that?" interrupted Gray. "And why should we trust you?"

Musashi shrugged. "Take our word for what it's worth to you, but if you did your homework then you'd know why miss Scarlet would be facing Shirou."

Tuning out whatever Gray's response was, Musashi returned to her drink along with Shuuten.

And it was that night that Cana was beaten when it came to drinking by not one, but two women.

**Elsewhere...**

Rufus and Olga stood before the imposing form of Sabetooth's master, Ziemma. A large body of rippling muscle and sunken in eyes, he made for an intimidating sight, even to his own guild. To him, strength was all that mattered. And anything less than complete victory was grounds for punishment, an ideal he had drilled into the minds of every mage in his guild. So it was no surprise to anyone present that the master was furious with the results from the days games.

"This... is inexcusable..." he grumbled low as his teeth ground against each other.

While Rufus appeared to be slightly nervous in the face of Ziemma's ire, Olga was more angry at himself than fearful of their master. The slayer was almost certain that his own raw magic power was greater than Ziemma's, despite how much the giant postured and flaunted his strength. As such, he was none too worried about the repercussions of his loss against Enkidu, but rather desired to get in as much training as possible in order to defeat the Chaldea mage.

"For years we have been the undisputed strongest guild in all of Fiore." Ziemma spoke as his grip on his seat began to crack the wood. "And now these upstart whelps seek to usurp us? I say no!" he roared as he slammed a fist down.

The guild members grew nervous as their masters glare swept over each one of them before landing back on Rufus and Olga. "I should have you both thrown out for making such a mockery of our guild..." he stated coldly. "But I cannot afford to weaken our overall strength in the face of Chaldea. I will not allow them the satisfaction of seeing my guild fall apart as a result of their actions!"

Standing up, Ziemma held his arms out menacingly. "The next person who fails me shall receive a severe punishment. Even worse than what I would normally mete out. There is only absolute victory, or absolute defeat! I accept nothing else!"

Holding out his hands, he clenched them into fists. "If nothing else, we must crush Chaldea."

**Elsewhere again...**

Flare Corona whimpered in pain as 'Alexei' struck her across the back with a whip for the 20th time that night. For failing to defeat Lucy of Fairy Tail, she was forced to suffer a punishment as a result. The scarlet-haired girl had been stripped naked and cuffed to chains hanging from the ceiling, while Alexei 'reprimanded' her for her terrible display during the fight. Her punishment was made even worse since the man was beyond furious that Obra had been interrupted from casting his spell, and subsequently resulted in Fairy Tail's victory over his guild.

"Do you have any excuses for your performance today Flare?" he asked as he struck the woman once more.

Flare was barely able to hold back her tears but was forced to do so anyway. Should she show any signs of weakness, then Alexei would only go harder on her.

"N-no master... I h-have none..." she responded quietly, not trusting her own voice to be able to hide her pain and fear.

"You were far too lenient with your opponent!" he shouted as he struck her across her rear. "You toyed with her, wasted your magic, and let her get the better of you!"

"Forgive me Master!" she begged as the strength of his swings increased.

A moment of silent passed and the whipping had stopped. Flare nearly let out a sigh of relief when she heard the weapon drop to the ground. Circling around to her front where she could see him, the mask was no longer there and Ivan's face could be clearly seen. He looked disgusted with her.

He grabbed her by the chin and forced her gaze to meet his own. "Forgiveness is for fools."

Releasing his grip, Ivan walked over to the fireplace and pulled out a metal rod. "Mercy is for the weak."

The hair-mage trembled in fear when she saw that it was a branding iron. One that had Raven Tail's mark on its end.

"And sympathy is for the frightened masses." he opined as he held the glowing iron up for her to see.

Suddenly the chains binding her ankles retracted and spread her legs open. If she weren't so frightened, Flare would have been humiliated at her body being displayed.

Ivan looked Flare over until his eyes landed on the guild mark above her right breast. "I will say this; your idea to brand the fairy-girl was amusing." he remarked as he twirled the iron in his hands. "And although you already have one of your own, perhaps I should give you another?"

Flare panicked as soon as she saw Ivan lift the red-hot metal towards her genitals.

"Think this will be a good place?" he asked without a hint of emotion.

"P-please... I'm begging you... Don't..." she pleaded as her tears finally began to fall.

"What did I just say about mercy?"

Flare closed her eyes and braced herself for the unimaginable pain she would be forced to endure. She could feel the heat radiate from the tool and begin to burn her skin. But just before it touched her, the door to the room opened and Nullpudding walked in.

Ivan frowned as he pulled the iron away and Flare let out a momentary sigh of relief.

"What is it?" he asked with a growl of annoyance.

"Sorry boss. I know you said not to disturb you or anything, but Kurohebi said he saw someone suspicious snooping around. Thought he looked like that Mystogan guy." the short man said as he jabbed a thumb over his shoulder.

Ivan clicked his tongue and re-adorned his helmet. "That old bastard thinks he can spy on me? I'll show him otherwise. Keep an eye on Flare." he grumbled as he stormed out of the room.

"Got it boss."

And so he left Nullpudding alone with Flare until he returned.

As Ivan made his way out of the cellar of the house they rented out (no way they would use a public inn), he was thinking over the multitude of ways that he could try to use this situation to his advantage. It only took him a moment to spot Kurohebi sitting at the dinner table, going over some of the other competitors profiles.

"Alright, where is he?" Ivan asked, grabbing the other mages attention.

"Where's who?" Kurohebi asked in confusion.

Ivan rolled his eyes beneath his helmet in aggravation. "Mystogan, the Fairy Tail bastard."

The dark-haired man perked up at that. "Mystogan's here?"

Nearly palming his face, Ivan leaned on the table to get down to Kurohebi's level. "Nullpudding just told me you thought you spotted him. Where?"

"What are you talking about boss?" he asked in a worried tone. "Nullpudding turned in about 15 minutes ago."

A moment passed before Ivan's eyes widened in alarm and he rushed back downstairs, only to find both Flare and 'Nullpudding' were gone.

**(-)**

"Ahh, now I do believe this is the part where the frightened damsel in distress shows her appreciation towards her savior with a kiss. Usually it's on the cheek, but I'll let you give me one on the lips, just this once~."

Still shaken from the sudden turn of events, Flare could only stare dumbly at the man in front of her. The man who up until moments earlier looked exactly like Nullpudding. However now she recognized him as the man from Chaldea's team who had the almost-silver colored hair. It came as a great surprise when the man spirited her away from her guild and brought her to an entirely different location. From the looks of the room they were in, it must have been another hotel, but a much more upscale one. The man then gave her his outer robe to protect her modesty, and was now holding out a lovely pink flower for her.

"W-what do you want from me?" she asked nervously. It was completely natural seeing as how a rival guild had just kidnapped her.

"Well like I said, a kiss for starters." he answered with a smile. "Then maybe your heart and affections~."

Suddenly the door to the room swung open to reveal a girl with red-hair who was wearing a white uniform.

The man then turned and inclined his head toward the newcomer. "Ah, Master. To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"

The girl palmed at her face as soon as her eyes landed on Flare. "O god, you actually did kidnap someone..."


	4. Chapter 4

"Ajimu here again, in place of author-san, welcoming to chapter 4. Now I know some of you are already wondering; why's Olga Marie in this chapter? (at least you will be wondering that once you read it) The reason being that I felt like it. I found it kind of stupid that her character was essentially created for the sole purpose of dying in order to cement the fact that Lev Lainur was a villain, as well as giving the player a target for their rage or whatever. So I decided to give her a helping hand, as well as send that side-burn asshole to a very sadistic general who will have quite a bit of fun with him...

Yeah, I did in fact do that. Go back and play the Grand Order prologue again and you'll notice that he's missing and Olga still has a body to return to. So much for him being the boss at the end of Singularity 2. And if he still is there for you, then that means you were a coward who decided to take the blue pill and are unable to see the world for what it truly is.

Oh, is my breaking the forth wall of a game you play that is now being used for a fanfic xover confusing you? Eh, not my problem.

By the way, you should have seen the look on author-sans face when he summoned both Suzuka Gozen and Meltryllis on his first try."

**(-)**

Within one of the VIP rooms at the Kings Krown Inn, the large hotel that was playing host to Chaldea, a meeting was being held by numerous members of the guild. Eight individuals were seated around a large circular table to discuss some alarming recent developments. Except 'alarming' was actually much closer to troublesome in the opinion to most present.

Though the table was spacious enough for all present to be spread out evenly, six of the rooms occupants were clustered together on one side, with the remaining two on the other. Sitting from left to right were Gudako, Gudao, Arturia (Saber), Doctor Roman, Olga Marie, and Da Vinci. And on the other side sat Merlin and Flare, the former smiling as if nothing was wrong, and the latter squirming nervously in her seat. After Merlin's rescue (read; kidnapping) of Flare from her guild, a meeting was immediately called by the guilds masters along with Arturia to discuss what would be done next. And so Flare sat quietly, wearing a set of clean clothes that had been provided to her, watching as those seated opposite her shifted through a myriad of expressions, ranging from annoyed to nonplussed.

Finally the silence was broken by Merlin.

"I still don't understand what exactly I have done wrong." he remarked with a smile.

Olga immediately dropped her head on the table. "Why me?" she bemoaned quietly.

"Law of Averages would be my best guess." Roman responded with a weak smile.

The woman turned her head slightly to glare at the floofy-looking man and grumbled under her breath.

"So Merlin," the male Fujimaru sibling began as he leaned forward. "why exactly did you feel it necessary to put our guild at risk by kidnapping a member of another guild?"

With a flourish Merlin brushed aside some of his hair as he gave a dazzling smile. "Why, the answer is so obvious that I'm shocked you couldn't figure it out yourselves." he then turned to face Flare and proceeded to put the moves on her. "A beautiful flower shouldn't have to suffer in pain from the presence of a violent nettle."

As Flare looked at Merlin, she began to see sparkles and flowers radiate from his being and make him look all the more attractive. However she failed to realize that the imagery was the result of an illusion woven by the wizard himself.

"Translation; he saw a woman he fancied being abused and decided to intervene." Arturia explained.

"I-I wasn't being a-abused..." Flare said quietly as she curled in on herself and lowered her gaze. "T-that was just the m-master scolding me for f-failing him..."

Merlin's face hardened as his tone became firm. "Torture is not an acceptable punishment for failure, especially not something as extreme as what your master was doing."

Da Vinci drummed her fingers on the table as she mulled over the situation in her head. "It appears this is more complicated than we thought."

"Agreed." nodded the female twin as she stared at Flare. "Strictly speaking from a moral perspective we can't allow you to return to Raven Tail, even if you claim that what your master was doing was normal for your guild. And I frankly don't care if each guild is entitled to their own methods of punishment, there should still be a standard."

"Not to mention that the fifth member of their team is actually the guild master in disguise." added Merlin. "I clearly recall that being against the rules of the Games."

"Not like we can call them out on it though." opined Olga. "If we try bringing this forward, then they'll accuse us of kidnapping their teammate. And it's not like we can just attack them and reveal their scheme."

Da Vinci rubbed her chin in thought as she processed the information. "Our best bet is to expose Ivan during an official match, but there is no guarantee that our team will be pitted against him."

Throughout all the deliberation, Flare stayed quiet as she tried to curl in on herself and remain unnoticed. Her mind was a mess of thoughts that she couldn't keep organized. Prior to leaving her village, she had never interacted with other humans before, so she was unclear as to the specifics of their customs. When she was picked up by Raven Tail, she simply followed their lead and took everything Ivan said at face value. But now that she was in the presence of people who were actually concerned for her well-being, everything she had been through up until this point just seemed so wrong.

"I suppose that really is our only viable option at the moment."

Flare's attention returned to the conversation when a consensus was reached. "What is?"

Arturia briefly closed her eyes as she took a calming breath. "For the time being, you will remain in our custody." the woman said firmly, causing Flare to flinch in fear.

"No need to be afraid Flare dear." Roman spoke comfortingly. "We have no intention of keeping you prisoner for the rest of your life, we just want to keep you safe until we can expose Raven Tail for their crimes. Which shouldn't be too hard considering that they are a former Dark Guild."

"Until that happens, we can't risk the possibility that in your current state of mind, you might run right back to your abusers." Olga added with a cold tone.

The hair-mage hugged her knees against her chest as her lips trembled. "I-I understand..."

"Come now, a pretty girl such as you shouldn't be making sad faces. It takes away from your beauty." Merlin spoke suavely with a smile.

"As for you..." Gudako interrupted with a stern voice. "Don't think we simply forgot about the fact that you went and kidnapped a girl you found attractive. Again."

Merlin gave a devil-may-care smile and made a weighing gesture with his hands as he tried to avoid any blame. "In the grand scheme of things, I find that the good I did outweighs the criminal charges. Surely you would agree."

"True." answered Arturia. "Your actions were morally in the right."

The wizard clapped his hands in joy. "Excellent! So I'll just be on my way no-."

"But!" Gudao spoke up suddenly. "It would be unwise of us to constantly condone your abduction of women just because it ended up being the right thing to do. Think of this as negative reinforcement."

The door to the room swung open and the cutest little ball of fluff that Flare had ever seen burst in.

"Fou, sic 'im."

The amount of vicious ferocity displayed by the creature as it began to maul Merlin was more than a little off-putting given how harmless it looked.

**(-)**

"_For those of you just tuning in now, it is the second day of the Grand Magic Games, and our competitors are taking on their first challenge of the day; Chariot!" _Chapati explained from his seat in the announcers box._ "This is a race between the competitors as to who can reach the finish line first! But it's not that simple of a course."_

"_Thash right." _Yajima agreed.

"_Cooool! Coooool! Cooooool!"_ cheered Jason, the guest host of the day.

"_As you can see, our contestants must race upon a long series of constantly moving war chariots. Besides having to race against each other, they must also keep focus lest they tumble off and lose progress!"_

The audience cheered wildly as they watched the screen that projected the lead racers, but their faces fell when they glanced at those at the back of the pack.

"_By the way Yajima-san, could anyone have predicted _this _turn of events?"_

"_Hmm. Such a mesh it ish."_

Half of the competitions racers were lagging far behind the rest, each struggling just to keep moving. Barely standing on his feet in last place was Natsu, who looked ready to throw up at a moments notice. Just ahead of him were Gajeel and Sting, neither of which were faring any better. And barely managing to keep ahead of the slayers was Merlin, who was hindered for an entirely different reason. The man looked as if he'd been put through the wringer. His beautifully flowing hair was now an unkempt mess with strands sticking out everywhere, his outfit was torn in several places, he had a black eye, and nearly every inch of exposed skin was covered in scratch and bite marks. Why Chaldea had sent out a clearly injured man to participate in the race was beyond understanding.

"Move it flame-breath!" Gray roared from his seat in the stands. "You're being outrun by a cripple!"

None of the racers could hear him of course, but Natsu had the sudden urge to throttle the ice mage.

"_At the very least I have to say that it is quite inspiring to see these four push forward despite how much they must be suffering." _opined Chapati.

"_So coooool!"_

"_Please calm down Jason."_

Merlin let out a ragged breath as he stumbled forward. "I'm not here to be inspiring... I'm here because my guildmates are heartless!"

The both famous and infamous wizard grunted with barely restrained obscenities as he trudged onward. Having Fou tear into him was one thing. Preventing him from utilizing any form of recovery magecraft was another. But then forcing him to participate in the first challenge of the day? This punishment was beyond excessive!

Of course, not once did he regret rescuing that hot piece of ass that is Flare, but he should be busy wooing her right now! Not taking part in a foot race!

"Oh, ho, ho... I will ensure my vengeance for this injustice is both swift and merciless~." he muttered darkly as he began to plot.

Then he heard a growl from behind.

It is part of human nature to turn away from and ignore terrifying things. They believe that if they refuse to acknowledge the present danger, that it will cease to be. If you can't see it, then it can't be there. And for all that he was, Merlin was still part human. But even he couldn't stop his head from turning towards the source of the growl.

"_Oh my! It appears that a small animal has made its way onto the course!"_

It wasn't the fear of God that had struck Merlin, but the fear of a tiny ball of soft fur.

"WAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

He then ran like he had never run before.

While a good portion of Chaldea enjoyed the sight of their resident womanizer get chased across the city by the most harmless looking creature ever, there were still a few who were feeling sour as they glanced towards Raven Tail. More specifically, the illusion of the guilds master who was sitting in the stands.

"Vile bastard." growled Hijikata Toshizo as his hand drifted towards his rifle. "He's mocking us by maintaining this farce."

Billy the Kid tipped his hat as he nodded in agreement. "Why don't we just shoot 'im now and be done with it?" the gunman opined, only to have a hand firmly grasp his shoulder.

"That would be unwise for numerous reasons." spoke Nightingale. "The possibility for innocents getting caught in the crossfire is too high. We also are unaware of the capability of his illusions. If we act rashly, then he will just turn the situation to his advantage."

The outlaw let out a heavy sigh in resignation. "Yeah, yeah... Still don't make it any easier to just stand idly by."

"True, but we must put our faith in our Masters. Once they see the opportunity present itself, we will charge in and tear out their throats!" roared Hijikata.

"_And so today's race reaches its conclusion!" _Chapati cheered as the final runner, Sting, crossed the finish line._ "Let's see what our contestants adjusted scores are!"_

1st place: Chaldea 34

2nd place: Lamia Scale 22

3rd place: Raven Tail 18

3rd place: Blue Pegasus 18

5th place: Fairy Tail A 12

6th place: Mermaid Heel 11

6th place: Sabertooth 11

8th place: Fairy Tail B 2

"_Oh my. It must be quite demoralizing for Sabertooth to have dropped even further in the ranking. Let's just hope that they can make a comeback during the combat portion of today's games."_

"_Chaldea's still standing strong even with Merlin placing fourth in the race! SO COOOOOL!"_

"_Jason, how much coffee did you drink today?"_

"_COOL!"_

**(-)**

After a rather... odd... battle between Toby of Lamia Scale and Kurohebi of Raven Tail, the end result being the latter enacting the cruel destruction of the former's precious 'missing' sock (which was painful to watch for two entirely different reasons), the second combat match of the day was about to begin.

"_For our second match of the day, the first competitor is Shirou Emiya of Chaldea!"_

The crowd cheered in excitement as the white-haired man took to the field, his face set in an impassive expression. He briefly shifted his gaze towards the section of the stands where the rest of his guild was, and immediately picked out his personal cheer-squad. His father remained seated but still had a proud smile on his face, Irisviel was waving a pair of decorative fans with swords printed on them, and Illya and Chloe were holding a large banner that read 'Fight Nii-sama!'. Standing next to his family were several other Servants, comprised of his close friends/people who won't leave him alone. Suzuka Gozen was there, who gravitated towards him given their similar use of swords, Waver Velvet had joined the group as well, along with Medusa (Rider) and Cu Chulainn (Lancer). Standing on the railing and wildly swinging a large flag back and forth was a young woman with orange hair who wore a black jacket with white-fur trim, and although she had the presence of a tiger she was _actually _the Jaguar Warrior. Arturia had joined them up there as well, standing beside two other women. The first had long purple-hair and was dressed in a form-fitting black outfit with vertical red stripes, and the second woman was dressed in a revealing outfit reminiscent of a bikini with gold accents. Her long black-hair was tied in twin-tails, and the blue coloration to her eyes indicated that Ishtar was not in control at the moment.

"You can do it sempai!"

"Bring home a win Shirou!"

"Show them what you can do nii-sama!"

"If you even think about throwing the fight, I will make your life a living Hell!"

The third-rate magus shuddered at the threat courtesy of Rin. She wasn't one to bluff.

"_And fighting him we have Erza Scarlet of Fairy Tail A!"_

Said team was slightly surprised that what Musashi had told them last night had actually come to pass, but such things were inconsequential at the moment. So Erza simply made her way out to the arena while trying to gauge her opponent. Her own expression mirrored his, giving nothing away for him to see.

'_If what Musashi said is to be taken at face value, then it is highly probable that he and I utilize similar forms of magic. That means victory may hinge on who is more skilled.'_

"So, you are the great Titania of Fairy Tail." Shirou remarked with genuine interest.

Erza was actually somewhat surprised that he was familiar with her moniker given the long absence she and her friends had from the guild.

"By the way, you might want to put a tighter leash on that Natsu fellow. He kept shouting at our guild hall late last night about how, and I quote; 'It doesn't mean jack who you think you are, Fairy Tail's Queen Titania will kick Shirou's ass!'." he spoke with a quiet chuckle. "I have no doubt that his ranting was disturbing the sleep of numerous people."

Erza slowly turned a murderous glare towards Natsu as her hair seemed to billow behind her in a dark aura. Of course, said hot-head was too engrossed in the moment to realize the killing intent being sent his way. So Erza had to settle for sighing in annoyance as she returned her focus to Shirou. "My apologies. Natsu is a very... expressive... member of our guild."

The white-haired man nodded in understanding. "A rather polite way of putting it, but I understand none-the-less. We have our fair share of troublemakers as well."

"My condolences."

Shirou briefly ran a hand through his hair with a sigh. "No need for that. We're all used to the Madness by now." he replied before his gaze sharpened. "But right now we have a fight to get started. Do you fancy the idea of making a wager like the last combatants?"

Erza raised her brow in response. "Why do you ask?"

He shrugged. "Just to add a bit more fun to our match."

The red-head didn't see the harm in acquiescing to the suggestion. "Very well. My teammate seems hell-bent on finding out more about a member of you guild; guy named Siegfried. If I win, I would like to meet with him."

"A rather simple request, but one that is within reason. And in the event of my victory..." Shirou trailed off as he tapped his chin in thought. "I hear you have quite the collection of weaponry. It must be quite an impressive sight."

Erza could already see where Shirou was going with this. "Provided you prove to be enough of a challenge, you will see my entire arsenal in our battle. But I shall agree to your terms regardless."

"_Let the battle, BEGIN!"_

"Trace on!" Shirou shouted as a pair of black and white falchions formed in his hands.

"So that's what Musashi meant by similar magic." Erza mused as she summoned a pair of short swords to her own hands. It wasn't often that she faced an opponent like Shirou, so she needed to test the waters before going all out in combat. And the best way to do that would be to match him for the time being.

The two fighters began to slowly circle each other, waiting for the prime opportunity to attack. Erza spotted a hole in Shirou's defense and rushed forward to capitalize on it. She swung her sword wide to get around his guard, but his own blade quickly came down and batted hers away. The red-head had about half a second to be surprised before bringing her second blade up to deflect Shirou's counter. She twisted her blade to redirect Shirou's, and followed up by thrusting hers forward. Again her attack was batted away as Shirou brought his white-sword downward, which resulted in Erza stabbing the ground. The requip mage was forced to release her sword and flip backwards as the white-swords companion swiped at her legs.

Having separated after their brief clash, both fighters raised their guards once more.

"Requip: Black Wing Armor!" Erza called out as she donned the ebony outfit with matching sword.

Shirou threw his black-sword at Erza as he ran at her, but she easily smacked it out of the way and swooped in to meet his charge. As he rushed forward, a spear appeared in Shirou's free hand which he thrust forward. Erza twisted her body out of the way and attacked with an overhead swing, which was blocked by the white-blade once again. The spear in Shirou's hand vanished and was replaced by a khopesh, which he used to hook around Erza's sword and yank it to the side.

The Fairy Queen's eyes widened in alarm when she noticed several swords floating in the air behind Shirou. If this was anything like when she uses her Heaven's Wheel armor, then she knew what would come next. She closed her wings in front of her just as the swords were launched and they harmlessly bounced off the metal constructs. She was successful in negating the attack, so it came as much surprise when she felt another sword collide with the back of her armor and knock the wind out of her. Her breath was further robbed from her as Shirou rammed his elbow into her midsection and sent her tumbling away.

The S-Class mage stabbed her sword into the ground to halt her movement and steady her footing. As she turned her gaze up at Shirou once more, who had returned to his initial stance with the married swords, her face hardened upon realizing how difficult the fight would become.

"Requip: Giants Armor!"

As her attire shifted once more, a new weapon appeared in her hands; a massive great-lance with a broad-tipped blade. She ran at Shirou once more, this time with her arm cocked back as she aimed the lance at her opponent.

"HYAH!" she grunted as her arm rocketed forward and the weapon left her grip, now barreling straight towards Shirou.

The magus winced as he was forced to parry the powerful blow, leaving him open to attack.

"Requip: Lightning Empress Armor!"

Meanwhile Erza had continued her charge unabated, and was now clad in another set of armor and armed with a spear that was crackling with lightning. Shirou dismissed his falchions and brought forth a large greatsword, which he used the broadside of to block the voltaic spear. Releasing one hand from her lightning spear, Erza snatched her lance out of the air and unleashed a flurry of blows upon Shirou with both weapons. As Shirou blocked another attack, Erza kicked off his blade and launched herself into the air, whereupon she threw both of her weapons at the white-haired man in order to keep him pressured.

"Requip: Purgatory Armor!"

Clad in a menacing suit of black armor covered in spikes, Erza descended towards Shirou with a massive weapon that was a bastardized combination of an ultra-greatsword and a mace.

Batting away the two spears, Shirou tossed aside his greatsword.

"I am the bone of my sword!"

To match Erza's unorthodox looking weapon, Shirou decided to use his own. An enormous chunk of sharpened bedrock that just barely fit the description of 'sword'. As the two weapons clashed a powerful gust of wind was released and sparks began to fly. It was such a strong blow that those who were seated in the front rows could feel the wind being kicked up.

"_SO COOL!"_

"_This is quite the impressive display of swordsmanship! Two mages who specialize in armed combat, what an amazing sight to behold!"_

"_It makesh me feel youngsh again."_

"Kick her butt nii-sama!"

"Kick his ass Erza!"

"Go for the win sempai!"

"Show that punk what a Fairy Tail wizard can really do!"

"Who do you think you are pinky?! Calling my big bro a punk?! I should throttle you!"

"Oh yeah shorty?! Bring it on!"

"Don't you dare badmouth my sempai, you ice-stripper!"

"Doesn't he look a bit old to be your sempai?! What, are you into old dudes?!"

"You think you can insult my imouto, you freezing-homo?!"

"Freezing-homo?!"

"You obviously are turning down the advances of women, and I'd say flaming, but your an ice-mage!"

Heedless of the growing verbal dispute in the stands, Erza and Shirou continued to trade blows with their over-sized weaponry. Despite the weight each weapon must hold, the two combatants were fighting as if they were regular swords.

"Steel is my body, and fire is my blood!"

Their blades clashed once more, but this time Erza's was destroyed as a result.

"Damn! Requip: Heavens Wheel Armor!"

Shirou tossed aside his massive sword as dozens of blades formed in the air around Erza. If that was how she planned to do things, then it only made sense for him to up the ante. For every blade the Erza summoned, Shirou created two more. Upon seeing her opponent match her sword for sword, Erza needed to be the first to act.

"Dance my blades; Tenrin Blumenblatt!"

"Trace Bullet; Continuous Fire!"

The arena was filled with sparks as sword after sword was fired off and impacted against one another before shattering. However it quickly became apparent that Erza was at a disadvantage. Whereas Shirou created his swords using magecraft, Erza was simply pulling out her weapons from a dimensional pocket. Anything that was destroyed couldn't be immediately replaced. She soon realized this and was forced to change tactics. Requipping into her cloth armor, Erza rushed Shirou while armed with a katana, even as the swords continued to fly. This didn't escape Shirou's notice.

"I have created over a thousand blades!"

He charged to meet Erza as a midnight-black katana formed in his hands.

"Chimei-tekina dageki!"

"Tsubame Gaeshi!"

The two combatants passed by each other as all remaining action stopped. The crowd fell deathly silent as both Shirou and Erza stood motionless with their backs towards each other.

"Hmph, impressive..." Shirou remarked, just before blood began to splatter forth from his shoulder.

"Indeed..." Erza agreed. A moment later her sword shattered into pieces. However the strike the Shirou delivered to her wasn't as physically damaging. The bandages that were wrapped around her breasts suddenly fell away, exposing Erza's breasts for all in the stadium to see.

Silence reigned as her face turned crimson.

"K-KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"


	5. Chapter 5

"Well it took weeks of torture, but I finally managed to get Author-san to write another chapter. You're welcome."

**(-)**

After a brief intermission for the judges to determine who the winner of the match between Erza and Shirou was, they came to the decision that it would be counted as a tie, and give 5 points to both teams, bringing their scores up to 39 and 17 respectively. The reason for this result was due in part to two facts; Erza had fled the arena in her state of embarrassment, and Shirou was swiftly KO'd by some of the women from his own guild. Needless to say, it wasn't quite the conclusion that anyone was expecting.

During the brief period of confusion in which the games were put on hold until the judges came to a consensus, several of Chaldea's leaders used the time to hold a quick meeting in order to discuss their plans.

"Have the scanners picked up on anymore of the anomalies presence?" Gudao asked, his back leaning against one of the rooms walls.

"Indeed they have." answered Romani. "However the readings were too faint to give us a precise location. Still, whatever it is that we're looking for has yet to leave the city."

"I'd wager a guess that there is something in Crocus that it's looking for. A catalyst of some sort in order to create a Singularity." the teen responded as he looked out the window and towards the city.

"If that's the case, then we'd best find either the anomaly or the catalyst before one makes contact with the other." Olga opined from her seat, biting softly on her nail as she pondered what to do. "But first we'd need to find out what this potential catalyst is."

Gudako let out a soft sigh before shaking her head. "It all seemed so much easier when the only thing we had to do was fix the Singularity after it manifested. Yet we've been in this strange world for a whole month now, with only a small periodic 'ping' to show for it."

"At least this gives us the opportunity to prevent the Singularity from occurring in the first place." her brother opined, before shifting his gaze over to DaVinci. "How goes things on Angra's side?"

"Nothing has taken the bait thus far. Aside from a couple of curious wizards that is."

"Thankfully none of them have tried anything funny." Olga added apprehensively. "But it's only a matter of time before someone gets too nosy for their own good."

"Agreed. Tell him to take the day off tomorrow. He can explore the city if he wants, but make sure he's accompanied by a Ruler."

"On a lighter note," Gudako spoke up, earning the groups attention. "it seems that our team has been doing a good job at dominating the competition, Merlin's poor showing aside. Though I have to ask; does anyone else feel somewhat bad about this?"

Her sibling was quick to respond. "Well, we are basically sending in a SWAT team to deal with a schoolyard brawl. I'd make a comparison to the David and Goliath scenario, but we actually have David in our guild."

"Think we should tell them to tone it down a bit?"

Gudao waved off Romani's suggestion. "That doesn't sound like something they'd be willing to do. Especially considering some of the competition. Arturia is likely to utterly destroy Raven Tail if given the opportunity."

"And that's not even taking into consideration our reserve member. Turns out that they will be joining the team tomorrow since Merlin is out of action... Why the hell did we let the rest of the Servants draw straws for the final position? We were practically begging for trouble once we decided to leave it to chance."

Romani shrugged. "Hindsight is always 20/20. No use fretting over what's already happened." he added placatingly. "Rather, we should be preparing for any potential fallout."

The sound of the crowd cheering could be heard echoing down the halls, signaling the start of the next match.

"Sounds like things are getting exciting again."

"Time to wrap this up and head back out there." Gudao said as he pushed himself off the wall. "If there's nothing else to add, then let's get going."

Just as the group was getting ready to leave, a familiar face came sprinting down the hall and nearly fell over as he swung himself around the doorframe. Surprisingly it was Jekyll, and he was looking considerably panicked, if the strained expression and beads of sweat dripping down his face was anything to go by.

"Master! We have a serious problem!" he exclaimed hurriedly, causing further concern among the rooms occupants.

"What's wrong?!" Gudako asked in concern. "Is the Singularity appearing?!"

The doctor shook his head in the negative. "Even worse. I don't have the time to explain, just hurry back to the stadium with me!"

The Chaldea leaders were quick to follow, not even bothering for further questioning as they rushed through the halls and towards the exit to the stands. If whatever was happening was enough to get Jekyll worked up into his current frantic state, then it was certainly bad news for everyone involved. Finally reaching the exit corridor, the group were practically shot out of a cannon with how fast they were going. Sliding to a halt at the guard-rails, they immediately spotted the figurative nuclear bomb that was ready to go off at any moment.

Unbeknownst to the group as they were holding their brief meeting, the next round of the competition had begun, which turned out to have pitted two wizard/pin-up models against each other. Such a thing wouldn't be cause for much concern under normal circumstances, but things were quick to go south when non-competing members of the various guilds present decided to join in. Needless to say, the Servants of Chaldea were enthusiastic to take part as well.

"_What an unexpected development for this match!" Chapati exclaimed from his seat in the judges box. "This started out as a simple duel between two models, but has quickly escalated to a fashion show of epic proportions!"_

"_SO COOL!"_

"_Jason, sit back! You're gonna fall!"_

"_Ahh, what a youshful sight yish is."_

Although the other guilds had their own fair share of hotties taking part in the impromptu show, it goes without saying that they were unbelievably out-classed when compared to Chaldea's participants.

Arturia had switched to her Archer class, wearing her one-piece racing suit along with her crown and raiment. Mordred (Rider) was having a battle with Arturia Alter (Rider) to see who could perform the best stunt/pose combo with their surfboard and motorcycle respectively. Ishtar had shifted to her Rider class as well, trying to appeal to the audience with her 'casual summer' look. Tamamo and Kiyohime had both taken on their Lancer forms, each doing their best to earn their Masters attention. Fran (Saber) was lounging about wearing nothing except for some strategically placed bandages that did the job of covering what was important, but not much else. Babbage ended up having to restrain Old Man, who was panicking over the possibility of Fran being exposed to thousands of viewers. Not that Fran was the one who was in the most danger for a wardrobe malfunction, as that honor went to Tamamo Cat, who was wearing nothing but an apron and a smile. Her tail managed to keep things mostly hidden, but it was through some form of divine intervention that whenever her naughty bits were about to be exposed, a glaring beam of sunlight conveniently blocked the view. Nobunaga (Berserker) was holding a one-woman concert, and was considerably more impressive of a performer than a certain god slayer. However things rapidly became strained when Nero (Caster) tried to perform for the crowd as well. It was amazing how somebody could be _that _tone-deaf. Medb was flaunting her beauty from atop a slow-moving chariot, drinking up all the adoration she was receiving. Anne and Mary were posing as a duo, combining the appeal of Anne's smoking hot body and Mary's adorable appearance.

Gudao and Gudako couldn't help but pale upon seeing just how many Servants had taken to the field. And to make things worse, even more were joining the fray with each passing moment.

Artemis was acting rather bubbly, despite the fact that she had Orion in a choke-hold using her fingers. Martha (Ruler) and Scathach (Assassin) were more subdued in their showing, but still attracting quite a bit of attention. Marie Antoinette (Caster) was tossing a beach ball around with Nitocris (Assassin), who had actually taken off her medjed disguise. Minamoto-no-Raikou (Lancer) seemed to be blissfully unaware of how much skin she was showing with her barely-there bikini, trying her best to enforce some sense of morals amongst the competitors even though her own massive breasts were ready to spill out at any moment. This was also causing Sakata (Rider) to look away in mortification. Things were starting to escalate further once Meltlilith and Lip joined in, with the latter's enormous chest eliciting a visceral reaction from the crowd, as the men cheered while the women felt inadequate by comparison.

'_Someone, make it stop!' _Gudao screamed mentally, unable to form the words to properly convey his concerns.

Elizabeth (Lancer), Mata Hari, BB, Ereshkigal, Semiramis, Tig- Jaguar Warrior, Hassan of the Serenity, Medusa, Medusa (Lancer), Stheno, Euryale, there was no end in sight! And this wasn't even counting the men who decided to participate and pair up with some of the ladies. Iskandar, Fergus, Diarmuid, Gawain, Blackbeard, Asterios, this whole situation was turning into a bomb just waiting to have its fuse lit! Some of the younger Servants joined in too, like Nursery Rhyme and Gil.

From hot as hell, to cute as can be. Drop dead gorgeous, to adorably innocent. Abs of steel, to a lady-killer smile. Nearly every form of appeal was on show thanks to the Servants of Chaldea.

"_My god! Just where in the world did Chaldea find all these people?!"_

"_COOL, COOL, COOL, HOT!"_

"_Jason! You changed your catchphrase!"_

"_Shush a grand performansh."_

"This is not going to end well." Romani opined as he tried to wipe the panic-sweat from his face. "Things are just one wrong move away from absolute chaos."

"That's not the worst part though." Jekyll spoke up, causing further concern for the group.

Gudako swallowed hard before mustering up the courage to ask what he meant. "And what is?"

"... We can't find Astolfo."

"Game over man! Game over!"

"How could he of all people be able to sneak off?!"

"Where's the nearest bomb shelter?!"

Just then, amidst all the chaos, the group spotted an individual walking out of the shadows from one of the arena tunnels. A person with pale-pink hair that was tied in a long braid, wearing a frilly two-piece blue bikini.

"_Oh! It looks like another member of Chaldea has decided to join in!"_

"STOP! IT'S A TRAP!"

No one truly knows what happened after that. By the time everyone regained full control over their mental faculties, they were greeted by a post-apocalyptic scene. The arena looked like it just survived World War 5, with various wizards from all guilds present strewn about in unconscious heaps. Thankfully the only real casualties of whatever happened were the womens attire, as some of them had to flee dressed only in their birthday suits. But once everything was fully sorted out, the official match -the one between Mirajane and Jenny- had also been declared a tie like the previous round. This also meant that the bet both women had made, resulted in them both having to agree to do the nude photo-shoot.

**(-)**

The second day of the games had drawn to a close following the match between Saber Tooth and Mermaid Heel, and now the sun began its descent over the horizon to blanket the city in darkness. The tranquil quiet of the evening was something the members of Chaldea eagerly welcomed, after having gone through the giant mess earlier in the day. However it would have been even more enjoyable if not just some, but _all_ of the Servants who were responsible for the days headaches were more repentant for their actions. As it was, they knew that at least several of them would not be giving out any apologies for their actions, and the Masters were far too tired to try fighting them over it.

"I feel like I just aged ten years..." Gudako remarked as she sat in a chair with her body slumped over the table in front of her.

"Make that twenty for me..." her brother responded as he lay on one of the couches, his head cradled by Mash in her lap-pillow.

"Don't worry sempai. I'll always be here to support you." the Chaldea member spoke soothingly.

"You're an angel Mash. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

The girl giggled at that. "Thanks."

"Does anyone recall what the final scores of the day were?"

"Fairy Tail B is in last place with 7, next is Saber Tooth with 11, then Fairy Tail A with 17, Mermaid Heel 21, Lamia Scale 22, Blue Pegasus 23, Raven Tail has 28, and we're still at the top with 39." Romani listed off absently as he was flipping through some papers. The man stopped to sigh and run a hand through his floofy hair. "I think I'm gonna turn-in early. Heck, maybe tomorrow I'll wake up and this will all have been just a dream."

"If this is gonna be a dream for anybody, it'd better be for me." Olga grumbled as she staggered in, already half-asleep with her hair an absolute mess. "I've already dealt with my fair share of damage control since I was put in charge of Chaldea. If anyone tries to wake me up in the morning for anything short of a Singularity, then I can't guarantee your safety."

"All in favor of passing our responsibilities off to one of the Servants?" Gudako asked aloud.

"Aye!" was the collective response.

"Motion carried. We'll put Nightingale in charge. She should be more than capable of handling it."

"Speaking of the iron nurse, where is she anyway?"

Romani jabbed his thumb over his shoulder towards the door. "Said she wanted to do a quick shopping run. You know, see about restocking some of our medical equipment."

"You ever wonder if that woman takes a vacation from anything?"

"I'm beginning to think that invasive surgery is her idea of a vacation."

**(-)**

Pulling out a pad of paper, the head nurse of Chaldea crossed off the last item on her list of supplies she needed to collect. Though Earthland's medical practices weren't up to Chaldea standards in terms of technology, the managed to bridge the gap well enough with their own brands of magecraft. Things like incense that can numb a persons sense of pain, or compress' that are able to maintain heat for prolonged periods were just a few of the things that she found to be useful. And the best part was that the person using them didn't even need to be magically attuned, as they could easily be activated by anyone.

"Quite unfortunate that we didn't have these during the war. While simple in use, they are still incredibly effective." she muttered to herself as she looked over the contents of her bags once more. "This should last us for quite a while. Provided we don't have another problem like earlier today."

Rounding one of the street corners, the pale-haired woman nearly crashed into someone who was walking in the opposite direction. However the suddenness of her appearance did cause the person to stumble backwards and nearly fall over, if it wasn't for Nightingale catching their hand before it was too late.

"Ah, my apologies." the nurse spoke as she pulled the girl back to their feet. Nightingale recognized her as a member of the Saber Tooth guild, but wasn't present to hear her name. "Are you alright miss?"

The girl quickly collected herself before looking up at the Servant. "Y-yes. I'm sorry for running into you."

Nightingale shook her head. "It is no trouble. I wasn't quite paying attention to where I was going either." she responded before taking notice of the girls attire. "Though it may be warm during the day, I recommend you wear a jacket at night. Just wearing a sleeveless shirt will likely cause you to catch a cold."

"H-huh?"

"Hey! Yukino, wait up!" a voice called out from down the street.

Looking past Yukino, Nightingale spotted the source of the shouting. It was the hot-headed member of Fairy Tail team A. His name was Natsu, if she recalled correctly.

"A friend of yours?" she asked the white-haired girl.

However Yukino remained silent as her gaze was fixated on Natsu's approaching form, along with the strange blue cat that was flying after him.

"Natsu. Happy." she muttered quietly.

Natsu came skidding to a halt just a few feet away from the two women with a happy-go-lucky smile on his face. "Oh! Is this a friend of yours Yukino?"

The girl stuttered out a response in the negative, apparently not having expected to see Natsu at the current moment.

"Well, whatever." he replied, quickly dismissing Nightingale from his attention, unaware that she was a member of Chaldea. "I just wanted to say sorry to you." he continued with a grin.

"W-what?"

"You see, I kinda had it in my mind that all of you Saber Tooth guys were a bunch of jerks. But you aren't a bad person at all!"

Though Natsu didn't immediately notice yet, Nightingale spotted the tears that were starting to form in Yukino's eyes.

"You chased after me... just to apologize?"

"Aye!" cheered Happy. "Natsu has a bad habit of jumping to conclusions, but I told him not to judge your entire guild based solely on those Sting and Rogue jerks."

"Don't act like you didn't think the same thing at first!"

"You can't prove that~." Happy teased as he flew circles around Natsu.

It was then that Yukino began crying in earnest. "Why?!" she shouted. "Why are you being so nice to me?! I've never been treated like this before! Not even by my own guild!"

"What do you mean?" Nightingale asked firmly, her expression quickly shifting into something more serious. Natsu was quick to pick up on the change in atmosphere, and it set him on edge.

"I had always dreamed of joining Saber Tooth! And last year, I finally made it in!" she cried as she fell to her knees and buried her face in her hands. "But now I can never go back there!"

"What?" Natsu uttered in confusion.

"I lost once... and they made me quit. I was forced to strip in front of a crowd of people, and remove my own guild mark..."

For a few moments she sobbed quietly, before bawling out in full. "It was so horrible! So shameful! I was humiliated in front of everyone! My memories of the guild, my self-respect, they were all crushed!"

Both Natsu and Nightingale's fists clenched in anger.

"And now I have nowhere left to go!"

Silence hung in the air for several moments, before a single firm voice spoke up.

"Where are these filth?"

**(-)**

A powerful tremor shook the very foundations of the inn that was playing host to Saber Tooth, rousing all the members of the guild from their sleep.

"What the heck's going on?" Sting grumbled as he sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"Intruders!" Rouge answered as he swung the door open.

"Intruders?! What do you mean intruders?!"

What sounded like an explosion echoed down the halls and shook the building further, followed by the sound of gunshots.

"Who would be stupid enough to attack the inn that all of Saber Tooth is staying at?" Sting wondered aloud as he quickly threw on his clothes.

"I haven't a clue." Rogue responded. "Though I imagine they don't plan on leaving alive."

Rushing through the halls of the building, the dragon slayers met up with several of their fellow guildmates before reaching the main hall. Just in time too, as the far wall exploded towards them in a torrent of fire and a shower of debris.

"WHERE IS YOUR MASTER?!"

"SHOW YOURSELF, FILTH!"

A duo who most would consider to have been sent on a suicide mission, entered through the newly made hole and stood menacingly across from the majority of Saber Tooth.

"You have business with me?" Ziemma grumbled as he stomped forward and to the front of the crowd. The man looked absolutely furious at the prospect that some nobodies (in his mind) had come to attack his guild.

"You expel someone after a single loss, huh?" Natsu growled in righteous fury as flames wafted from his lips. "Gotta be real fired up to do something like that."

The veins on Ziemma's face became more pronounced as he glared at the duo. "So what?"

Nightingale reloaded her pistol with an audible click, matching Ziemma's glare with her own. "You are nothing but a vile cancer that must be excised. We shall now commence with the surgery."


	6. Chapter 6

"So I managed to get Author-san to keep writing, utilizing various... means...

Anyway, not much progress in terms of the GMG Arc, so you'll have to wait until the next chapter to see who the reserve member is."

**(-)**

The room was near silent following the declaration of the inns intruders, save for the constant crackling of the fires started by Natsu. Despite the absolute confidence that the Saber Tooth mages had in their own strength, they couldn't help but falter even the slightest amount in response to the fierce look shared by Natsu and Nightingale. The former was akin to a raging dragon that was ready to unleash a torrent of destructive flames upon his enemies, while the latter currently lacked any resemblance to the 'angel' that her patients would often regard her as. With her black coat flapping in the wind behind her, it gave Nightingale the appearance of a winged demon.

Sting was unable to suppress the tremor of excitement and nervousness that struck him from the presence that Natsu was currently exuding. _This _is what he was waiting for; the presence of a true dragon. A challenge worthy of his power so that he might prove himself as being the strongest.

"Natsu..." he quietly remarked in awe.

It was nearly the ideal situation for the student of Weisslogia to initiate a battle with the son of Igneel. The pinkette stood across from Sting, and was determined to put up a fight for whatever perceived slight had offended him. Natsu wouldn't back down from this conflict, and Sting was trembling in anticipation at the prospect of being able to fight him. Yet it was Natsu's companion that threw a wrench into the works.

Sting wasn't aware of who the woman was personally, but he was quick to spot the emblem sewn on the side of one of her hip-pouches. And it was the emblem that marked her as a member of Chaldea, who was currently at the top of the games leaderboard, much to his own guilds ire. The clenching of Ziemma's fist was enough of a tell that the large man had noticed that little detail as well, which meant that it was unlikely that Sting would be given the opportunity for a one-on-one fight. For the master, this was now personal.

"You brats have some nerve to come here." Ziemma said in a low growl. "For your own sake, I hope you understand what your attack against my guild means."

Neither attackers looked even slightly shaken at the mans threat. In fact, they had begun to slowly stride towards Ziemma.

"Anyone who doesn't think of a guild member as a friend, doesn't get any respect from me!" Natsu growled in response. "That makes you the worst trash there is!"

"The cancer must be removed before it has the opportunity to spread to the rest of the patient." Nightingale spoke with a tone as frigid as the arctic north. "I must amputate the head in order to save the body."

Ziemma scoffed. "I have no idea what you are talking about, but I can see that you two have no intention of backing down."

The two became further incensed at that remark.

"You don't know, what I'm talking about?!" Natsu shouted as flames erupted behind him.

Making a brief gesture to his guild behind him, Ziemma was quickly flanked by two of his underlings. "Dorvengal, Giriki, deal with these trash."

The first to step forward was a man who was dressed similarly to a shinobi, with Roman numerals tattooed on his fingers. The second man resembled an eastern monk, with his head shaved, wearing traditional robes, and armed with a staff.

"Yes sir."

"As you wish, master."

Nightingale clicked her tongue in distaste. "Hiding behind your own men?"

His reply was a snort of amusement. "The common trash are far beneath my notice. If you plan to attack the highest members of a guild, then you must be prepared to show that you are worth my time!"

"You remind me of a certain King who I'd love to have you meet." Nightingale spoke before rushing forward. She was running towards Giriki while Natsu was aiming to intercept Dorvengal.

"My fight is with you!" Natsu roared as he charged forward.

"You will never get near the master!" Dorvengal shouted as the numbers on his right hand fingers glowed before he shot forward with a jab.

As for Giriki, he chose to take a prayer stance and wait for Nightingale to come to him. Just as the woman was about to enter the range of his staff, Giriki swiftly stepped back and then thrust his weapon forward.

"_Understanding of the Human Body."_

Nightingale's hand snapped forward with unexpected speed and grabbed Giriki's staff as she came to a dead halt. Yanking the offending object towards her, she caused Giriki to stumble forward in her direction. She then struck at his unguarded chest with her free-hand. A sharp cough escaped his mouth.

"Solar-plexus."

Her left knee dug into his lower abdomen and he staggered to the ground.

"Kidney."

Finally she brought her elbow down on the spot between his shoulder and neck.

"Collarbone."

An audible *crack* could be heard as the amount of pain he was in breached the threshold from what he could sustain. Giriki's body dropped limply to the side as he lost consciousness with his state now mirroring that of Dorvengal, who Natsu dispatched with similar ease.

Speaking of said dragon slayer, he hadn't even bothered to slow down in his charge towards Ziemma, who looked equal parts intrigued and incensed. Stepping forward, the master didn't bother to utilize both of his arms as he moved to face Natsu.

"Hmph! Looks like you brats are more than just bluster." he groused as the fireball that was Natsu reached him.

Natsu roared in fury as his flame-covered fist rocketed towards the large man, who easily blocked it with his forearm.

"Was that all?!" Ziemma shouted as he stomped forward, creating a shock-wave of power that pushed Natsu backwards.

"FILTH!"

Having her approach concealed by the flames Natsu was igniting, Nightingale vaulted over the young man and attempted to deliver an ax-kick to Ziemma's head. Reaching out, Ziemma caught her by the ankle, but that did little to slow her down, as she twisted her body in order to bring her other leg around for a roundhouse kick. It felt as if he had been shot in the arm by a cannon as the tip of Nightingale's boot dug into his bicep. If it weren't for his considerable muscle-mass, there was a good chance he would have had a fractured arm at the very least. Ziemma was quick to realize that he couldn't simply half-ass this fight for the sake of maintaining an image of strength, so he tightened his grip on Nightingale's leg as his other arm shot straight towards her while charged with magic. With a firm hold on her, there was no way she could avoid his attack. Yet his attack wound up missing as Natsu hit him in the chest with an uppercut. The grip on Nightingale's leg loosened ever so slightly, but that was enough for her to escape. Backflipping away from Ziemma, Nightingale followed Natsu's lead and buried her fist into the masters gut at the same time he did.

"Guh!" Ziemma grunted in genuine pain from the combined attack as the air was forced out of his lungs.

"_Angel's Cry."_

Natsu felt as if his strength had just been multiplied, evidently from something Nightingale had done, and he was keen to take advantage of it. A pillar of flame erupted on top of him as he let loose a deafening roar. The pinkette batted away Ziemma's counter swing with ease, which was followed by the sound of a gunshot as Nightingale fired her pistol at Ziemma's foot without even removing it from the holster.

"Holy crap..." one of the Saber Tooth mages muttered in shock.

"This ain't real..." added another in a hushed whisper.

Before their very eyes the guilds master, who was regarded as the strongest among them, was getting pushed back by two opponents who showed no signs of slowing down. Ziemma was hard pressed to even block their assault, let alone initiate a counter. However the man eventually had enough of playing the part of the punching bag.

"ENOUGH!" he roared as he released a powerful surge of magic from his body, causing Natsu and Nightingale to be momentarily repelled. The man hardly looked anything like the indomitable giant that he constantly presented himself as. His exposed skin was covered in bruises and small cuts, the hat and necklace he wore were nothing more than broken pieces, and sweat was pouring down his face and chest like a waterfall. Yet still he stood, and directed a downright murderous glare at his adversaries.

"For your transgressions, I will see you suffer and beg for mercy."

"That's our line!" Natsu roared in defiance.

"The incision has been made. Now we must proceed with the operation."

Ziemma let out a bestial cry as he charged forward with increased speed. His magic was of the enhancement type, which allowed him to multiply his strength, speed, and just about anything else he could touch. So as he neared his opponents, he multiplied the air pressure around his body and punched in their direction. The force quickly coalesced into something akin to rocket made out of air, and impacted the duo with the force of a cannon.

"RAAAAGHHHHHH!"

Natsu and Nightingale both cried out as they mirrored each others movement and sent their fists straight at the center of the blast, creating enough resistance to break the attack apart and send it careening to the sides. Ziemma's eyes widened slightly in surprise, but wouldn't let such a development slow him down. Stomping on the ground (while suppressing the urge to wince due to the hole in his foot), the floor in front of him momentarily buckled as if dropping into a sinkhole, only for it to suddenly shoot upwards as pillars of stone. His opponents were launched upwards, disorientated for only a split-second before spotting Ziemma sneering at them from below.

"NATSU!" Nightingale shouted as she kicked the wizards foot and sent him flying down towards Ziemma.

Engulfing his body in flames, Natsu barreled straight towards his target with absolute certainty he'd hit.

"Karyu no Kenkaku!"

Ziemma caught Natsu by the shoulders before the headbutt landed and scoffed.

"Pathetic!"

"Think again!" Natsu shouted as he snapped his head up to return Ziemma's glare with his own. "Karyu no Hoko!" and unleashed a torrent of flames unto the guild master from point-blank range.

"Gah! You insolent brat!" Ziemma growled as he tossed Natsu away.

"NIGHTINGALE!" the boy called out before landing into a roll.

Suddenly realizing that Nightingale had yet to fall, Ziemma looked up just in time to watch her kick off the ceiling with her pistol drawn. Four shots were quickly fired off, impacting both of his knees and both of his elbows. Fortunately he had multiplied the durability of his skin which prevented them from making him more religious, but that didn't make the hits any less painful. What the hits _did_ do however was lock up his joints for a brief few seconds.

"Begone filth!" Nightingale yelled as she pulled her arm back in preparation to strike.

"Burn you bastard!" Natsu added as he launched himself at Ziemma once more with his leg extended. "Raienryu no Kagizume!"

Nightingale landed a punch against Ziemma's face at the same time Natsu's flaming and lightning covered kick caught him in the chest. For a moment things seemed to grind to a halt, and the fights spectators could do little more than look on in shock. Then came the sound of a thunderous explosion. All the nearby windows along with anything glass immediately shattered from the pressure, and then Ziemma's body was sent flying across the room and embedded itself in the wall. The man let out a strangled gasp as his body went limp and tilted forward, before toppling to the ground in a charred heap.

The Saber Tooth mages looked back and forth between the defeated Ziemma and his two opponents, still unable to process the outcome of the fight.

"W-what just happened?"

"The master... lost?"

"Who the hell are those two?"

Sting meanwhile had to fight the urge to grin, as it would be completely out of place. But he couldn't help it. He just experienced a front-row view of what Natsu was capable of. The thought of fighting him caused his body to tremble in excitement. His very goal was practically dangling within his reach, and he just couldn't resist it any longer.

The blonde teen took a step forward-

"You..." came a weak groan from Ziemma, who was forcing himself to sit up. "You damn... trash..."

Though his body was bruised, bloodied, and burnt, the man refused to stay down as one of his eyes squinted open to weakly glare at Natsu and Nightingale. The mind was willing, yet the body wasn't.

"You'll pay... You'll pay!" he shouted, which was a mistake, as he began coughing once more.

"I think that's quite enough. Wouldn't you agree?"

A moment ago the space was empty, but now a woman stood over the beaten form of Saber Tooth's master. The master looked up in shock at the newcomer, not fully comprehending what was going on.

"M-Minerva?"

There was a hushed whisper among the guild mages upon recognizing who the woman was.

"The princess?!"

"It's her!"

"She actually came?"

"W-what are... you talking about?" Ziemma questioned her in confusion. He pushed himself off the ground and managed to get on one knee. "I'm not finished... fighting!" he weakly shouted.

Meanwhile both Natsu and Nightingale watched the scene play out with caution. Their only real fight was with Ziemma and, despite his protests, he was already beaten.

Minerva's eyes narrowed as she looked at the man with pity. She then raised her hand, resulting in a small explosion near his back which knocked him to the ground again. Natsu's mouth twitched slightly to form a snarl upon seeing yet another act of guild abuse, however Nightingale rested her hand on his shoulder as if to tell him to wait. The rest of the onlookers though, simply gasped in shock at the unprovoked attack.

"Stay down." Minerva said coldly. "It would do you well to not shame our guild with your failure any longer."

"W-what?!"

With her back to the rest of her guild, only Natsu and Nightingale were able to notice the sneer that formed on the womans face.

"It's like you said; the guild has no place for trash. They'll only serve to drag the rest of us down."

Ziemma let out a long wheeze as he looked up at Minerva. "You would...? To your own father?"

Both of the non-Saber Tooth members noticed how Minerva's lips curled in distaste at the mention of the word 'father'. There was more to this than it seemed.

"With your defeat, you have relinquished your right to be the guilds master. In other words," she spoke before leaning down towards him. "as per your rules; you've been expelled~."

The irony of the outcome was not lost upon anyone. In fact, Natsu was actually a little surprised at this turn of events, despite that being what his goal was from the very beginning.

"Saber Tooth is MY guild! You... have no right! This guild is nothing... without me!"

Minerva tilted her head slightly, as if pondering his remark. "Hmm, true." she replied in agreement. "After all, without a proper master, our guild can no longer participate in the games."

A grin began to form on Ziemma's face. It would seem his daughter still had some sense left in her. But with her following words, his anger returned in force.

"So I suppose we'll have to settle for you acting as our master for appearances sake. We can't have one of our strongest be tied down by the rules of not allowing the master to participate. I suppose we'll just have to wait until the games are over before deciding on who shall lead us next."

The man snapped at that, and multiplied what little adrenaline he had left just so he could lash out. "IMPUDENT CHILD!" he roared as he jumped to his feet in order to attack Minerva.

A small object flew through the air and struck Ziemma in the chest. Upon inspection, the projectile was identified as a medical syringe. The liquid contents were injected into his already tired body, and moments later Ziemma's eyes closed as he was knocked into unconsciousness.

"That wasn't necessary." Minerva spoke plainly as she shifted her gaze towards Nightingale, whose arm was outstretched from having thrown the syringe.

"Be that as it may," she responded as she lowered her arm. "his continued blathering was starting to get annoying."

Minerva gave a weak shrug in agreement. "True. Even if he isn't the biggest dog in the yard, father always made sure he was the loudest."

"Tch, should have put a muzzle on him sooner." Natsu grumbled as his anger began to fade. With having completed the goal he set out to accomplish, Natsu was simply left with a bad taste in his mouth over the whole affair. He still held obvious distaste towards the rest of Saber Tooth, even with Ziemma defeated.

Minerva then turned to regard her fellow guildmates and pointed at several of them. "You four, take father to the infirmary." he gaze then went back to the two intruders. "Now, what am I to do with you?"

The two attackers already knew what Minerva was getting at. There was no way they'd be getting out of the situation scot-free.

"He had it coming to him." Natsu answered.

"I do not regret my actions in the slightest." Nightingale spoke up. "If you are looking for an apology, then go elsewhere."

Minerva turned her head up slightly, somewhat impressed by the duo's resolve. Still didn't mean she wouldn't turn the situation to her advantage in some way. And fortunately for her, the manner in which she could do so had just arrived.

"Nightingale!" the male Fujimura sibling called out as he entered the room with Medusa (Rider) following behind.

The nurse of steel turned to regard the teen. "Ah, master. What brings you here?"

Gudao nearly face-faulted at her response. "Oh, you know; going for a stroll to enjoy the crisp night air, maybe head to a bar and meet a hot girl that I can spend the night with- WHAT DO YOU THINK BROUGHT ME HERE?!"

"If you should choose to take part in sexual relations, I must remind you to utilize protection in order to prevent the contraction of sexually transmitted diseases. I do have a few prophylactics in my bag if you should desire-"

"Gah! Stop! I wasn't being serious!" he shouted while blushing and waving his arms in denial.

Nightingale closed the bag she was reaching into and nodded. "Good. I would be very disappointed if you caught something and then gave it to Mash."

Dragging a palm across his face, Gudao wanted to settle this problem asap so he could head back to the inn and sleep. "For the last time; we aren't together."

For some reason Nightingale refused to acknowledge his claim, no matter how many times he said it.

"I'm here because of the warzone you've turned this place into!" he shouted as he gestured to all the destruction around them.

"To be fair, Natsu here was kind enough to help me." she replied as she pointed at the slayer.

"You got that right!" said teen added, acting strangely proud of the property damage.

Leveling an exhausted gaze at Minerva, Gudao was willing to do anything to resolve this problem immediately. "How much?"

"Hmm?"

"How much compensation do you want for all this?" he asked more clearly. "This has been a very trying day, and I'd do anything to bring this to an end."

"Well, I suppose we can work something out." Minerva replied with a coy smile. "You see, in regards to the games, our guild is lacking poi-"

"Just get to the point." Gudao interrupted. "I've got a bed in a bomb shelter with my name on it."

"Transfer ten points from your guild to ours."

"Done. Medusa, Nightingale, let's go." he answered quickly, already halfway towards the exit before Minerva could even respond.

An awkwardness hung in the air following that brief exchange, and Natsu simply looked at the trio's retreating backs in confusion. "What just happened?"

"Doesn't matter. Just get out. I'll let your part in this affair slide for now." Minerva instructed the pinkette and shooed him away.

**(-)**

They should have expected something like this to happen again, they really should've. Despite his already battered condition, Merlin had gone and picked up yet another girl in need of help. Already having gone through a rough nights sleep, the leaders of Chaldea had to be woken up early to deal with more of Merlin's nonsense. Now sitting across from them was the white-haired girl from Saber Tooth, who was fidgeting uncomfortably in her seat from all the deadpan stares directed at her.

"... Anyone else concerned about the alarming rate at which we're picking up strays?"

"Is this gonna be a _thing _now Merlin?"

"If it is, then we'll be getting a new one every night."

Filled with unease at the prospect that she wasn't welcome to be there, Yukino made to stand up and leave. "Umm, if you don't want me here..."

Romani shook his head in denial. "It's not that. We're more than capable of accommodating you for extended period of time." he explained before covering his mouth to yawn.

"The problem has more to do with Merlin," Gudako added as she directed a weak glare at the already bandaged-up wizard. "and his womanizing habits."

"I regret nothing!" Merlin remarked with a cheerful smile.

Gudao directed a smile at Merlin that all but promised pain. "Good." he said before reaching down under the table and picking something up. Lifting it into view, the teen placed a familiar little creature on the table. "How about now?"

They say you can still hear the screams echoing down the halls to this very day.


	7. Chapter 7

"Despite the current chaotic state of the world, it seems Author-san is still able to at least a little productive. He's also pretty ecstatic that this story passed 1000 follows. Hopefully this update will help cheer you all up. Things are really starting to diverge now."

**(-)**

Yukino Agria wasn't quite sure how she should be feeling at the moment. The previous night was without contest the absolute worst event she had ever suffered through ever since her childhood. She had worked so hard to become a member of Saber Tooth, clawed her way towards that goal with every ounce of strength she had with the hopes that doing so would finally give her some sense of accomplishment, of validation. That upon joining, she would at last be able to cast-off the remnants of the pathetic girl she once was. By joining the strongest guild, it would be definitive proof that she wasn't weak. That she wasn't useless. That her existence actually meant something.

And that her sister's sacrifice wouldn't have been in vain.

But that all came crumbling down after a single loss. Because for Saber Tooth defeat is inexcusable, and is worthy of punishment of the highest degree. Yukino just never realized what that truly entailed. The humiliation she suffered at their hands was enough to break her down and revert her to the sad little girl that she once was... And she hated that.

She hated Kagura for being so merciless and for holding back her true strength. She hated Ziemma for his cruelty towards her. She hated her former guildmates for leaving her to suffer, to not even try to stand up for her. She especially hated the ones who took advantage of the situation by recording her shame on lacrima crystals and even groped her as she left. But more than anything else, she hated herself for being so weak. Despite all the hardships she endured, all the training she forced herself through, and the challenges she faced in order to earn her Golden Keys, it still wasn't enough. After having gone through all that and still failing in the end, she was more than willing to give up on being a mage and simply live out the rest of her miserable life in isolation.

However that changed after her encounter with Lucy. It wasn't much, but the blonde's words were enough to convince her to keep moving forward, if only just barely. And yet things took another turn later that same night, when she broke down once more, only this time it was in front of two members from the other competing guilds. Her weakness was put on display once again, and she hated herself for it.

After a rough nights sleep at one of the less than stellar inn's, Yukino had woken up to hushed whispers of an apparent attack on Crocus Gardens, the place where Saber Tooth was staying. Her heart dropped at the thought that Natsu and Nightingale actually went and attacked her former guild, as their defeat was all but assured. After hearing the news, her body seemingly went on autopilot as she made her way towards where Chaldea was staying, as she wanted to see if Nightingale was alright. She would then head to Fairy Tail to check on Natsu as well.

However these plans rapidly went askew when she was picked up (quite literally) by Merlin from Chaldea's team. Even with his face bruised and bandaged from who-knows-what, the man was quick to make his best attempts at wooing her with whatever tricks he could manage. At first Yukino was highly resistant to his advances and even tried to flail out of his grasp, but she soon found herself to be far too flustered by his sweet words and improvised poetry to put up any real fight. What she failed to realize at the time was that he was utilizing a pre-recorded track of pick-up lines via an audio-lacrima that he managed to conceal through the use of flowery illusions that kept Yukino distracted. Fortunately for Merlin, he was able to reach their destination before the crystals recording ended... Which just so happened to be the very same place Yukino was headed for. And while she did enjoy her 'escort' to the inn, it wasn't enough to qualm her concern over Nightingale's condition. That is, until she was greeted by said woman in the foyer, looking no different from how Yukino saw her the night before.

The white-haired girl had let out a sigh of relief at the time. It seemed that Nightingale wasn't involved in whatever happened with Saber Tooth after all. Thus she had planned to check on Natsu once Merlin let her go. But such plans were thrown out the window when said wizard carried her deeper into the inn and gingerly placed her in a comfy chair in what appeared to be a meeting room, followed by him pulling a little sleight-of-hand to present her a white-rose from his sleeve. Flattered as she was, the mood was shattered once the door swung open and the Chaldea leaders entered the room, looking particularly haggered.

Following a short discussion which involved Merlin getting mauled by a cute rabbit/dog thing, Yukino's worries were fully dispelled in regards to what happened with Saber Tooth. Apparently she had thought too highly of Ziemma's power, as the man had been thrashed by Natsu and Nightingale. So this left her at a bit of an impasse. Her forward momentum of what to do next had been brought to a halt, and now she lacked a concrete goal. But seeing as how Chaldea had gone out of their way to help her in her time of need -even offering her a place to stay so that she could settle her thoughts- she wouldn't have felt right if she didn't offer to help them in exchange for their kindness. Anything that she could do to pay them back. And it just so happened that they had something for her to do.

Which lead her to her current situation. Olga -who while sharing the same name as the notorious god-slayer was in fact nothing like him- was leading her down the halls to, as she put it, 'help out with the kids'. Apparently the guilds younger members were somewhat troublesome, and thus needed near-constant watch.

"Now before we get there, I'll give you a quick rundown of how to deal with these little hellions." Olga instructed before stifling a yawn. "Do not show any signs of weakness, do not give in to their more outrageous demands, do not give them excessive amounts of sugar,"

Yukino nodded with each passing instruction, fully expecting things along the lines of what Olga was saying.

"Don't worry ma'am. I'm sure I can handle this." the celestial mage responded optimistically.

Olga spun around to stare at her with a haunted look on her face. That was the first sign that things weren't going to be as easy as she thought.

"No, you can't." she replied, dead serious. "Very few of us are able to maintain any sense of control over these kids. If you let your guard down for even a moment, they'll eat you alive."

For some reason, Yukino got the impression that Olga meant that in a literal sense.

"Next, I'll give you the specifics on some of the kids. Jack has this thing where she refers to pretty much anyone she interacts with who is older than her as 'mommy', even if they are male. Not much of a problem with that, but under no circumstances are you to give her anything even remotely sharp. Do not let Gil out of your sight, otherwise he will sneak off to cause mischief. Nursery Rhyme is easy to placate with anything along the lines of a tea-party. Just don't let her take charge of it. Jeanne Santa can be rather... eccentric, but do your best not to fluster her, as she is quick to panic and cause collateral damage. And whatever you do, make sure someone keeps an eye on Bunyan at all times. Her appetite is near infinite, and changes in accordance with her size."

"Her size?" Yukino asked in confusion, already feeling like she was out of her depth.

"You'll find that Bunyan's height is subjective, as it constantly alters itself without her being any the wiser. One minute she could be five feet tall, and then you blink and she's suddenly twenty. But so long as someone keeps her in their sight, her height won't change."

Finally arriving at their destination, Olga opened the door to the room where the youngsters were. To describe the scene inside as chaotic would be an understatement. The severity of the situation was further increased upon Yukino noticing Flare from Raven Tail was slumped against the far wall in a barely conscious state. Any questions pertaining to why the girl was there were immediately written off once Yukino got a better view of the red-heads current condition. Her hair was a frazzled mess, someone had written on her face in crayon, her mouth was starting to froth, and her limbs would occasionally twitch in a slightly disturbing manner.

"Now that I've gone over the easier ones to handle, it's time for me to tell you about the more problematic kids."

Yukino whimpered. Suddenly, the idea of living the life of a hermit wasn't looking so bad by comparison.

**(-)**

"_Welcome back everyone, to day three of the Grand Magic Games!" Chapti exclaimed in excitement. "We have entered the third day of the competition, meaning we are almost at the halfway point of what is turning out to be the most exciting showing the games have ever had since their inception!"_

"_I wonder what new dramash the gamesh will show ush today." Yajima mused aloud in his usual calm demeanor. _

"_As for our guest commentator for today, we have Lahar from the Magic council!"_

"_A pleasure to be here." the bespectacled man remarked with a small smile. _

"_Lahar, I hear you are the captain of the Council's Law Enforcement Division. You must have witnessed some impressive feats of magic in your time serving them."_

_The man chuckled. "Well, I can't really say much in regards to our missions due to security reasons, but I will say that my men and I are able to handle whatever challenges are thrown at us. That being said, if I catch wind of any forms of foul-play during the games, you can expect me to punish those responsible to the best of my ability."_

"_You hear that competitors? No cheating while Lahar is here!"_

"_Let ush all play fair and fun."_

"_Now before we proceed any further, I have been informed that there has been a slight change to the scoreboard." Chapti spoke as a large holographic screen formed over the arena. "Though I have not been informed as to why, Chaldea has decided to give Saber Tooth ten points from their own score, so the current leader-board is now this."_

**Chaldea- 29**

**Raven Tail- 28**

**Blue Pegasus- 23**

**Lamia Scale- 22**

**Mermaid Heel- 21**

**Saber Tooth- 21**

**Fairy Tail A- 17**

**Fairy Tail B- 7**

"_Seems like things aren't looking too good for Fairy Tail at the moment!"_

Said guild members bristled at that remark. It went without saying that they were incensed with how Chaldea gave Saber Tooth enough points to surpass them, while still maintaining first place. Regardless of their intentions, it made it look like Chaldea was trying to stick it to Fairy Tail. The only person who was aware of the truth behind the matter was Natsu, who for once was wise enough to keep his mouth shut. After having calmed down from the previous night, he came to realize how badly things could've gone without Chaldea's intervention. If word got out that he beat up a rival guilds master, then all of Fairy Tail would have been disqualified. It was only thanks to Gudao giving in to Minerva's demands that things didn't take a turn for the worse.

Still, it did bum him out that the rest of his guild was hating on the one that had actually helped them out, especially since Chaldea were the only ones who paid for it.

"_Now it is time for the third days competition; Pandemonium! All guilds must send out their representative before we continue."_

In another reality, Erza would have been the one to step forward and take on the challenge. But after the previous days fight with Shirou, she was too embarrassed at the moment to show her face in public. As a result, their reserve member Wendy, wound up replacing her instead of Elfman. But that didn't mean either of them were going to take part. No, it was the uncharacteristically quiet Natsu who strode forward.

"I'll handle this." he remarked with a serious look on his face.

With how 'off' Natsu was acting, none of his friends bothered to stop him from taking part, even though he was in the previous days chariot race.

Gajeel from Fairy Tail B felt the need to once again match up with his fellow dragon slayer, but was just a moment too slow as Cana, their reserve member, stepped forward first.

"Guess I'll go out for team B." she spoke before taking a quick swig from her bottle.

"What?! Wait a second!" Gajeel shouted in indignation.

"Why Cana?"

"Where's Mystogan?"

"The Council member is here, remember? Can't have him be spotted."

One by one the rest of the guilds sent out their representatives, until only Chaldea remained.

"_I wonder who Chaldea plans to send out today? Perhaps their reserve member? Because I certainly don't see Merlin anywhere."_

"_Just where is their reserve member anyway?" Lahar wondered, only seeing four competitors from Chaldea._

Then, walking out from the shadow of Hassan's towering form, came a diminutive girl who went unnoticed.

"Can I go?" she asked softly as she stepped forward, he hair slightly bobbing up and down with each footfall.

Arturia shared a quick look with the girl before nodding in response. "Just don't go overboard."

The girl gave a quick affirmation before continuing forward. She looked to be almost in her teens in terms of age, and was dressed in some form of gothic-victorian dress dark purple in color. In her blonde hair were several bows of both orange and purple color varieties, which matched well with her overall outfit.

"_It seems that Chaldea is indeed sending out their reserve member; Abigail Williams!"_

"_Quite the youngshter she ish."_

"_It would do you well to not underestimate someone based on their age." Lahar opined. "If Chaldea sent her out, then she must be quite powerful."_

"Please don't go out of control. Please don't go out of control. Please don't go out of control." Gudako repeated in prayer from her seat in the stands.

"No Lovecraftian monsters. For the love of god, no Lovecraftian monsters." her brother added solemnly.

"Punkin! Now that everyone is here, I shall explain the rules for Pandemonium!" the mascot character Mato cheered as the participants gathered around him in the arena.

Having given some kind of cue, Mato raised his hands up as a massive intimidating palace emerged from the ground through the use of magic.

"Behold! It's the palace of evil monsters; PANDEMONIUM!"

"Whoah!"

"That thing's massive!"

"A palace of monsters eh?"

"Oh Lord in Heaven, please shield us from the darkness that haunt these halls."

"This is the setup, punkin!" Mato spoke as a large holographic screen popped up. "There are a hundred monsters within its walls. Well, not real monsters, just magical incarnations that we summoned. So they don't pose any threat to the rest of us. Each monster is given a different class based on its battle prowess, ranked as D, C, B, A, or S. With each increase in rank, their overall strength is doubled, though their quantity is lessened. One hundred of them are scattered throughout the palace, including the S-Class, which is so strong that even a Wizard Saint might not be able to beat it, punkin!"

"That seems rather excessive." Cana remarked while trying not to imagine facing such a monster.

"So I take it we'll be fighting those things?"

"That's right, punkin! Next, I'll explain how the scoring system works!"

**(-)**

"Ah, this city is quite lively, even with the majority of the populace watching the games right now." Angra Mainyu opined as he walked through the market district while carrying a small bag of souvenirs with one hand and holding a meat-kebab with the other. Of course Angra Mainyu wasn't his real name, as he was not said deity from the Zoroastrian mythos, but he can't remember his original name, and just calling him Avenger all the time gets confusion with other Servants of the same class walking about.

Taking another bite out of his snack, he cast a glance at his companion. "Jeanne, you sure you're okay with tagging along? I mean, it's not like I have any intention to cause trouble."

His female tag-along shook her head in the negative. "It is fine. In fact, it's nice to enjoy the atmosphere of the town without the streets being packed too much. Besides, just because you won't go looking for trouble, doesn't mean it won't come looking for you."

"Ah, true." he responded with a shrug. "Trouble rarely shows it's face when you actually go looking for it. I think your country has a saying for times like this. What was it? Oh, cest la vie!"

"Such is life." she answered with a small smile. "I guess it's somewhat appropriate."

Slowing to a halt, Angra shifted his gaze to an assortment of headwear that was hanging on a store rack.

"Hey, you think I should buy a new headband?" he asked as he momentarily put his bag down to look through the selection.

"That's up to you."

"C'mon, is that all you can say? No 'oh, I think this color would go nice with your eyes' or 'the designs on this one match your tatoos'?"

"I've never really cared all that much for fashion myself."

The Avenger pouted like a child, a look that didn't suit him in the slightest. "I thought women were supposed to be good with this stuff."

"Would you prefer it if Elizabeth gave you her opinion?" she responded with a chuckle.

He shuddered. "There's fashion blind, and then there's Elizabeth. I think I'll stick with the former."

After a few more minutes of browsing the store, the duo decided to leave and see what else the city had to offer. It wasn't long after that they found a park and sat down near a water fountain to take a break. Placing his bags down on the ground, Angra stretched out his arms before looking up to see a familiar face -or what was visible of it- staring at him from the treeline. Letting out an amused sigh, Angra started rubbing at his head as he tried to remember who the person was.

"Ah, now I know I've seen you somewhere before..." he groused with slight aggravation as the mans name eluded him.

"He was a competitor during the first day of the games." Jeanne supplied helpfully.

"Oh yeah!" he exclaimed as he snapped his fingers. "You're that Mistguy who passed out during his fight with baldy."

"Mystogan." said man replied coolly. "And I'm sure you know the reason as to why I'm here. Concealing your power doesn't matter much when I can recognize your face."

"Oh, that's right! You were the guy stalking around our inn the other day."

Mystogan simply glared at Angra from his spot across the clearing.

"Man, why is it that everyone I meet has some kind of problem with me? Did I steal your lunch money when you were younger or something?"

The man raised a brow from beneath his bandanna.

Noticing this, Angra cracked a smile. "Let me guess; not exactly what you were expecting when confronting me?"

"You..." Mystogan trailed off as he gave Angra a closer look. Now that they were so near to each other, the wanted man was able to make a more accurate assessment of the Servant. His eyes narrowed upon reaching his conclusion. "It's similar, but not the same. Your aura, that is."

"I take that to mean that you too are searching for the cause of the disturbance?" Jeanne asked, rather certain that no fighting would break out.

"So you sense it too?"

"Well we wouldn't be here if we didn't." Angra answered teasingly. "I mean, the city is nice and all, and the games are fun to watch, but the potential bomb that we're sitting on kind of ruins the mood."

"I see." Mystogan mused to himself. For a moment his eyes shifted to the side as if he was looking towards a person that wasn't there before he nodded. "Tell me, are you familiar with the Black Wizard Zeref?"

"Apart from broad-strokes, no." the Avenger answered. "The guy has a 'he who shall not be named' vibe to him. No one wants to talk about, let alone keep records of him."

"Though I'd wager a guess that you believe him connected to what's going on in the shadows." Jeanne added.

Mystogan nodded. "That is the conclusion that my comrades and I have reached."

"Well isn't this grand? Guess our little outing bore some unexpected fruit~." Angra opined with a grin. "I suppose this is the part where we head back to HQ and share intel. Then we'll settle on a new plan of attack."

"You don't seem all that worried about the situation." Mystogan noted with a look of skepticism.

Angra shrugged. "Eh, apocalyptic threats are par for the course for our guild. You're not an official member until your first Singularity."

Mystogan, or rather Jellal, filed that term away for the moment. Regardless of how they found out, it appeared that Chaldea was also on the trail of whatever was going on in the city.

Suddenly there was a massive surge of power that emanated from the direction of the coliseum, followed by an explosion of rainbow-colored light that filled the sky.

Jellal was moments away from rushing to the scene, but was stopped by Angra.

"Don't worry. That was just one of our own going a bit overboard."

"A bit?"

Angra shrugged. "Cest la vie."


	8. Chapter 8

"Urghh... Spartacus moves like a friggin spaz, and it's just so creepy. It doesn't really look like he knows what he's doing, even by Berserker standards. Makes Author-san feel cheated with how much damage he does. At least this new chapter will push the fav count over 1000 and push the view count past 100000."

**(-)**

**Some time earlier...**

"Insolent brat!" a rough voice forced out between pained coughs as the man lifted himself up off the bed he was in.

The former master of Saber Tooth was not just furious with the current circumstances in which he found himself, he was apoplectic. Him being beaten by two punks from opposing guilds was bad enough, but then his daughter -his own daughter!- took advantage of the situation and deposed him from his position in the guild. Unthinkable!

Saber Tooth was a guild of his own creation! He built it from the very ground up in the wake of Fairy Tail's fall from grace seven years prior. Fiore's strongest guild lost its most powerful members, which left a power gap that he was more than willing to fill. By using equal parts force, intimidation tactics, and other frowned upon methods, Ziemma managed to quickly build up a reputation for his guild with its rapid rise into the spotlight. He even managed to manipulate Twilight Ogre into taking root in Magnolia in order to brush away what little remained of Fairy Tail so that his guild could usher in a new era. Once his guild began to amass a significant number of applicants, he was finally able to pick and choose who could join and who was trash, going so far as to even expel some of the founding members who didn't meet up to his standards. Soon his guild had become as great as he expected it too. With members like Rufus Lore, master of the Lost Magic; Arc of Memory, the Thunder God Slayer Olga Nanagia, and the Dragon Slayers of Light and Shadow, Sting and Rouge. Everything had gone according to plan.

But then Minerva saw an opportunity to stab him in the back, and gladly took it. How dare his own flesh and blood betray him as such. He wasted so much time training her to use magic, molded her mind so that she would follow his every order and never talk back, and ensured that she would share his ideals. It was because of _him _that she was as strong as she currently is. All the missions he sent her on during the founding of Saber Tooth in order to build a reputation, she wouldn't have survived them if it wasn't for his effort in raising her. And this is how she repaid him?!

The chains that bound Ziemma to the bed began to creak from the force he was exerting, but they refused to break. Minerva had ensured he was bound with magic-binding shackles so he wouldn't be able to escape, but that did nothing to suppress his natural strength.

"MINERVA! You will pay for this!" he shouted as he continued to rage and thrash about in his restraints. However his threats were for naught, as the room was soundproofed so that no one would come to help him.

"Your audacity knows no limits! I am your father! You can't take from me what is rightfully mine!"

"My god, won't you ever shut up?" spoke a somewhat tired voice. No, exasperated would be a better way to describe it.

"It's quite obvious that no one can hear you, so all that this accomplishes is making you waste your breath."

His eyes quickly scanning the room, Ziemma searched for the source of the voice, but found none.

"Who's there?!" he demanded with barely restrained fury. "Get me out of these bindings already!"

"Then again, I suppose you always did enjoy the sound of your own voice." the voice responded lazily, completely ignoring the mans raging.

"Are you listening to me?! I said GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

It was barely noticeable at first, but Ziemma finally managed to spot movement near the door to the room. For some strange reason a shadow was being cast inward, and even began to writhe and undulate as if it were alive. The shadow then began to extend upwards and quickly took on a humanoid form. Ziemma could easily see the wicked sneer and condescending gaze that stood out amidst the darkness that wreathed his visitor.

"And yet for some strange reason I find you here, beaten down and chained up like a wild animal. Oh how the _mighty _have fallen." the voice remarked, almost palpable sarcasm oozing from his words.

"You dare to insult me?!" Ziemma shouted as his anger returned in full. "Who are you?! Show me your face coward!"

The shadow chuckled. "It's unfortunate that I never got to see this pathetic side of you more often back when I was a member of your guild."

The former masters eye twitched as he growled. "So you're one of the pathetic whelps I expelled over the years. You'll have to refresh my memory of who you are, as I make it a habit to forget about the trash I have to toss out."

"Far from it." the man remarked as the shadows began to recede from his form. "Tell me, master:"

With the figure no fully visible, Ziemma was equally parts confused as he was angry. The person in front of him was someone he recognized, but at the same time he wasn't. Too much about him was different, yet their face -what he could see of it- was a near match.

"Which way do the shadows stretch? Into the past? Or the future?"

"You!?" Ziemma exclaimed in surprise.

"Or perhaps, towards the grave?" the newcomer asked with a smirk. "It has been a while, Ziemma."

Though the tone of his voice held a hint of nostalgia to it, it was mainly comprised of thinly veiled disgust and conceit.

"Though I would be lying if I said it was nice to see you again after so many years."

"What are you talking about?! I demand that you tell me who you are!" Ziemma demanded with what little authority he thought he had. "Are you Rogue?! If so, I couldn't care less about the specifics, just hurry up and free me!"

Rogue chuckled in amusement with a shake of his head. "No, I think I'll leave you like this for the time being." he responded before pulling up a chair and sitting in it reverse so he could lean on the back of it. "Instead, why don't we have a little chat first? I've got a few things on my mind that I feel the need to talk about. Hell, you might even be able to help me with a certain problem I'm currently facing."

Ziemma let out a huff of annoyance before he grimaced and gave his answer. "Fine. Release me from these restraints, and I'll help."

Rouge clicked his tongue. "You still don't seem to understand the situation. As it stands, I stand to gain nothing by letting you go now. You've always been the type of person who only cares about himself, so I'd rather not give you the opportunity to run off."

"Listen you-!"

A shadow suddenly shot upwards from beneath the bed and pierced straight through Ziemma's left hand. The man let out a pained yell as the shadow hooked into his skin and forced his limb against the bed.

"No, for once _you _will be the one to listen." Rogue growled with a frown on his face. "No matter how many years went by, you never stopped being an insufferable piece of trash. If anything, you just got progressively worse. Why anyone ever followed you is beyond my comprehension, as you were never worthy of their loyalty." he explained as he raised his hand and proceeded to clench his fist, causing the shadow to dig further into Ziemma's limb.

"None of the guilds accomplishments were your own. Everything you had was not earned, but taken from those you abused. WE are the ones who made Saber Tooth great, while you did nothing but sit upon a throne of lies, using fear and violence to keep us in line."

Ziemma began to thrash about in agony as the shadows slowly crawled their way up his arm.

"If there was anyone in the guild who was trash, it was you!" Rogue shouted, his voice dripping with venom. "The things you did to us! Treating us as disposable pawns that you tos**sed to the side once we were of no use to you!" **the dragon slayer practically roared as his hair began to billow, causing the scar on his face to become fully visible.

"**And not only that, but the things you did to your own daughter?! You forced so many burdens upon her, abused her in ways that no father should ever do to his child! The scars that you made sure were hidden beneath her skin, the mental trauma you inflicted to her as a child, and never once praising her for her efforts, as if it was expected of her to do your bidding!"**

"Gah! W-what... would you know?!"

Rogue's face twisted into an expression of utter loathing, gazing upon Ziemma as if he were something he scraped off the bottom of his boot.

"**I know because she showed me, told me. After years together she finally confided in me the atrocities you inflicted upon her! She wanted to be there for me after Frosch died, but I put aside my own sorrows to undo the damage that you caused!"**

"That damn cat?! What are you talking ab-?"

"**SILENCE."**

Ziemma howled in even greater pain as his other hand was also pierced by a shadow.

"**I came here under the pretense of getting another perspective on things, but I should have known that you'd be useless in regards to that. The only thing this conversation has accomplished is re-stoke the flames of hatred I hold for you, so I'll just have to settle for doling out your punishment. It's your turn to be on the receiving end."**

Ziemma began to sweat profusely as the shadows inched their way up his arms, resulting in even more pain. His breathing was ragged, and he was having trouble forming simple sentences.

"S-stop! You s-said you need m-my help!"

Rogue seemed to momentarily calm down at that. "**True. But I never said you needed to be alive for it."**

More and more shadows began to take hold of Ziemma, reducing his limbs to nothing as they ate away at him.

"**This is actually quite cathartic. Being able to inflict suffering on you for a change."**

Rogue could feel Ziemma's magic slowly mix with his own, further increasing his strength.

"**You see, I need an extra boost of power so that I can deal with an unforeseen wrinkle in my plans, and your enhancement magic is just the thing to help me."**

After several more moments of unimaginable agony for him, Ziemma was no more, leaving behind not a trace that he was ever there.

"**I need this strength to deal with something that was never present before. The one thing that will stand in my way to accomplish my goals... The guild called Chaldea."**

**(-)**

For Natsu, the current situation felt like the calm before the storm. He wasn't entirely sure why, but he felt like he owed it to Chaldea to give his all during this event. Sure, he already decided ahead of time that he'd give it 200% effort, as he wasn't the type of person to do things by halves. If Fairy Tail was to reclaim its former glory, then he had to show everyone here just what his guild was capable of. But whereas before he felt the need to flaunt his power in a loud and boisterous way, that desire had mellowed out into a more calm and quiet state. His focus was directed solely at the challenge before him, shutting out all outside interference and reaching a state that was similar to a cold rage. Natsu's emotional state can have a massive effect on his magical capabilities, so he chose to tap in to the frigid calm that slept beneath the surface. A concentration of power that would annihilate his opposition in the most efficient manner possible.

Regardless of what everyone else thought, Natsu came to realize that Chaldea wasn't the 'mean' guild he initially thought them to be. They cared greatly for their own, and were willing to go out of their way to confront injustice, even if it cost them in the end. With Chaldea's points having been dropped, Fairy Tail now had a much better chance of catching up to the first place guild and hopefully win the games. This was an opportunity that he couldn't afford to miss. He wouldn't let Chaldea's loss go to waste. He owed it to them to show that helping him out of that mess with Saber Tooth wasn't a mistake.

Looking down at the number on the stick he had drawn, the confident smirk he often wore on his face was nowhere to be seen. In its place was a look of determination that was tempered by the fires of his soul. He had drawn the number 1. He would be the first to enter the palace and face the monsters within. However, he also decided that he would be the last person to enter the palace.

"I'll take 'em all on." he said softly, mostly to himself.

"Huh? What was that?" asked the pumpkin mascot character. "I didn't quite catch that."

Tossing the stick to the side, the ambient temperature quickly rose as Natsu stepped forward and cracked his knuckles.

"This challenge will be mine, and mine alone."

"W-what?" Mato remarked in confusion.

"One-hundred, I'm gonna burn every last one of them!"

To say the reaction to Natsu's declaration was extreme would be putting it lightly. Gasps of disbelief filled the stadium, followed by a hushed silence befitting the gravity of the situation.

"W-WHAT?!" Mato exclaimed as his hat flew off his head. "I-impossible! The challenge is setup so that it would utterly massacre a single wizard!" he frantically explained as he tried to stop Natsu from going forward.

But it was too late. The palace had registered the number, and the door had opened. On the other side, all one-hundred monsters eagerly awaited his arrival.

"You must reconsider!"

Natsu forced his way past the mascot character. "Sorry, but my decision has already been made."

Passing through the open doorway, the initially dark room that Natsu found himself in was suddenly illuminated to reveal the monstrous army he had to fight. Punching his fist into his open palm, it resulted in a small burst of fire and lightning.

"Time to go all out, right from the start."

Stomping on the ground, the slayers body was engulfed in a storm of scorching flames and voltaic energy.

"Raien-Ryu mode!"

Even from outside the confines of the palace, the spectators could still feel the heat from Natsu's fire, as well as the static buildup that put their hair on ends.

"I'M ALL FIRED UP!"

The battle that followed was a spectacle that would be burned into the memories of the audience. On one side, there were a hundred monsters of varying strength. On the other... A dragon. The very arena itself shook from the explosive force of Natsu's attacks. Monsters were reduced to nothing but ash after being consumed by the raging flames that spewed forth from Natsu's mouth, while others exploded into countless chunks upon being struck by his lightning-charged fists. His fire was merciless, his lightning was deafening, his strength unrelenting, and his will unbreakable.

The majority of the audience could only watch in shocked silence with their mouths hanging open. The commentators completely failed at their job, as they were no better. The only vocal members of the audience was from Fairy Tail itself, constantly cheering on the dragon of flames.

Meanwhile Chaldea's reaction was a bit different.

"Oh thank god!" Gudao cried in relief as he limply fell into his seat. "If he kills them all, then we don't have to worry about Abi going all Cthulhu on us during her turn."

"Hooray for small miracles." his sister added in agreement.

The Chaldea Master was about to sit down herself, but felt her phone go off in his pocket. Pulling out the device, she saw it was Da Vinci who was calling.

"Hello?"

Gudao watched as his sister walked off -probably to go somewhere a bit quieter to talk- but returned his focus to the fight.

"That boy seems to be quite the powerhouse." Romani remarked as he observed the battle with a critical eye. "I don't think anyone expected this outcome."

"That's for sure. I see a lot of people catching flies in their mouths. What do you suppose the odds are of him coming out victorious?"

"I'm more curious as to what the event organizers are going to do if that ends up being the case." the floofy-haired man answered as he leaned back in his seat. "Something tells me that they don't have a spare palace filled with monsters lying around to replace it. Just how will they score the rest of the participants?"

"Well if they don't have a backup plan already, then they better hurry up and put one together." the brunette Master opined as he witnessed Natsu take down one of the rank A monsters. The pinkettes victory was short-lived however, as a different rank A monster quickly backhanded him into a wall. Gudao winced as if he felt that hit.

Letting out a bestial roar, Natsu launched himself out of the wall and right back at his attacker.

"Oh husband dear~." came a soothing voice from behind Gudao, soon followed by a pair of arms wrapping around his neck while the speaker rest her bust on top of his head.

"Yes Tamamo?" he asked with a rather plain reaction. The teen had built up a bit of a resistance to the more 'tame' flirtations that the demon fox frequently assaulted him with.

"Me and some of the others have been thinking, there's something about that dragon boy that seems off." the Caster replied, not even bothering to adjust her position.

"'Off' like how?"

"It's hard to accurately identify it due to the overwhelming dragon presence that he has, but hidden beneath we can faintly sense some form of demonic energy."

Romani quickly shifted his focus from the fight to Tamamo, while Gudao craned his neck back to peer past the cleavage resting on his head.

"How sure are you about this?"

"Mou~, not as much as would be deemed ideal."

"Think it's possible that he's the anomaly to cause the Singularity?" Gudao wondered aloud.

"Unsure." the doctor answered beside him. "With how he's front-and-center during the games, our scanners should have picked up on something if that were the case."

"A red-herring then?"

He shook his head. "The purpose of a red-herring is to shift our focus elsewhere and distract us from the real target. It can't be something so subtle that we might not even notice it, as that defeats the purpose of it being a distraction."

"Hmm, unrelated coincidence?"

"What is?" Gudako asked as she rejoined the group.

Her brother pointed down at the fire mage who was making a mess of things in the palace. "Potential demon connection. Nothing concrete at the moment."

The girl gave a soft grunt of affirmation before holding her phone up. "Da Vinci called, said something about the summoning system is acting up."

"Acting up how?" Romani asked with a raised brow.

The female mastered scratched her head as she tried to figure out how to word her response. "Ahh, to quote Da Vinci as best I can; a temporal anomaly has manifested via the summoning ritual in reaction to an as-of-yet-unidentified outside influence that is the result of an existential contradiction due to the influence of divine intervention, which clashed with an entirely separate pre-existing anomaly that caused an unpredicted negative feedback outcome, that wound up leaving a 'stain' on this worlds timeline leading back to roughly four-hundred years ago, and has led to the summoning system being unable to properly link to the Throne of Heroes because of this outlying variable."

Gudao blinked several times before his face set itself to a deadpan expression. "Oh, is that all?"

Gudako rolled her eyes. "Yeah. I mean, what's so hard about that to follow?" she responded before sighing. "I'm heading back to see if I can help sort this mess out. Don't have too much fun without me."

Waving his sister goodbye, the male Fujimura returned his focus to the arena. "Did you understand any of that Roman?"

"For now let's say I did and just worry more about this 'demon presence' that the pink one seems to have." Romani responded as he watched Natsu launch a barrage of lightning at several monsters.

"Come on! Is that all you got?!" Natsu roared as his fist punched straight through the torso of another monster. "If you want to beat a Fairy Tail wizard, then you need to do way more than this!"

The slayer ducked underneath an attack that came from behind, and snapped his arm up to catch the offending limb.

"Too slow!" he shouted before throwing the beast at the rank S monster that was biding its time towards the back of the pack. Natsu had noticed that the big guy had been hanging back for the duration of the fight, no doubt intent on letting the fodder do most of the work, and only step forward when the mage was weakened. "Get over here you coward!"

Despite how grand of a spectacle Natsu was putting on, he knew that he couldn't let the fight continue to drag on. Exhaustion was beginning to set in, resulting in several blows managing to hit him. Breathing was getting painful, indicative of one or more cracked ribs from the smack which sent him into the wall, his vision was still swimming from the last blow to the head he took, blood was dripping into his eye from a cut on his forehead, his left arm was starting to feel numb from when he blocked a barrage of attacks from a pair of the rank A monsters, along with numerous other cuts and bruises he received over the course of the fight. Backing off for a moment to quickly catch his breath, he took note of how many opponents remained; eleven D rank, thirteen C rank, only four B rank, three of the A rank, and of course the S rank who was hiding in the back like a bitch. All things considered, Natsu wasn't particularly thrilled with his chances of victory.

A savage grin formed on the slayers face. "Hahh, let's see how you handle this!"

But that didn't mean he would just lay down and give up. No, he would keep fighting until the bitter end.

"I'm coming for you, ya' ugly bastard!" he shouted toward the rank S monster as he took a deep breath.

Arcs of voltaic energy arced across his lips, accompanied by the wisps of flame he was exhaling.

"Raien-Ryu no Hoko!"

A powerful torrent of fire and lightning spewed forth from Natsu's mouth, rushing towards the remainder of the monster horde as a wave of death that threatened to annihilate everything that stood in its way. The rank D monsters were vaporized almost instantly from their position at the front of the pack, allowing the attack to then pierce through the defensive line of the rank C monsters, before detonating in a spectacular and downright violent explosion that nearly destroyed the entire palace itself.

As the light from the blast died down, Natsu clicked his tongue in annoyance. The rank S monster was smarter than he gave it credit for, as it had grabbed two of the remaining rank A monsters and used them as a shield to protect itself from the majority of his attack. The three-eyed behemoth sneered in amusement as Natsu staggered onto his knee. He had put the majority of his magic reserves into that attack, hoping that it would at least destroy all of the weaker monsters and damage the rank S to the point that he could handle it even in his now weakened state. However that didn't end up being the case.

Forcing himself back to his feet, Natsu slowly stepped forward to face his final opponent; an armor-clad demon who towered over him and armed with a massive stone pillar he had ripped free from the palace structure. The monster loomed over the slayer, the notion of victory firmly established in its mind.

"Alright." Natsu said as he cracked his neck, looking rather nonplussed at the situation. "Let's do this."

The monster seemed to take that as its cue, responding to the provocation by swinging the stone pillar at Natsu faster than he could react. Withstanding the attack as best he could, Natsu grabbed hold of the improvised weapon lest it send him flying through the air and into another wall. Still, that didn't make the impact any less painful. Noticing that the wizard had taken hold of the pillar, the monster swiftly discarded the weapon by flinging it towards the ceiling with Natsu still on it. Kicking off the pillar to prevent himself from being pancaked by it, Natsu brought his arms up to block a chunk of rubble the monster was quick to toss at him.

'_Damn it! This guy is annoying!'_

Natsu's strategy to defeat the monster was becoming increasingly futile, as the giant refused to allow him a moments rest and recover any amount of strength. And even in the event he managed to catch a break, he doubted his attacks would do any substantial damage to the beast.

'_I'm so close to winning! I can't let this jerk beat me!'_

Unfortunately for Natsu, luck wasn't on his side. As he leapt away from one attack, he tripped on some of the rubble which caused him to fall. The momentary stumble was all the monster needed in order to end the fight. An armored fist twice Natsu's size slammed into his body and sent him careening through the air and into another wall, where he lay motionless. A few seconds passed and his body flopped down to the floor in an unconscious heap.

"Punkin! Well I did warn him it was dangerous!" Mato remarked from the safety of his observation station. "I guess he bit off more than he could chew!"

"Natsu..." Lucy spoke in silent horror from the stands.

"Damn flamebrain." Gray remarked, but out of concern for once instead of insult.

Most of Fairy Tail remained quiet in the wake of what happened. They all wanted to believe that Natsu could do it, that he could make a proper show of what Fairy Tail was capable of. But things don't always turn out the way people want them too.

From his spot across the arena, Sting looked down at the projection with disappointment.

"It was a good showing Natsu, but this is the fate of the past generation. You will fall from grace, while I will take your place in the spotlight. It is over for you."

Back in the palace, the rank S monster grunted in amusement as he sneered at Natsu's broken body. The creature was more than satisfied with its victory and turned its back to head back into the depths of the palace.

**(-)**

There was darkness.

A darkness so absolute that nothing could be seen in it, not even his own hands.

A darkness that chilled him to the bone, sapped away his strength, and robbed him of the will to fight.

A darkness that knew no limit to its depths.

A darkness that swallowed him whole and drowned him in dark emotions.

Wrath, fear, sadness, disgust, apathy, and so much more.

It was as if he was swimming in an ocean of curses.

But just as he was about to give in and allow himself to slumber amidst the dark, he saw it... A flickering light in the distance.

A light the promised warmth. A light that promised safety. A light that promised strength.

Sparing no hesitation, he fervently swam towards the light.

"**Don't do it." a voice called out.**

But he payed it no mind. He was freezing and needed to reach the light.

"**You mustn't go there." the voice spoke again.**

He ignored it. As he drew closer to the light, he saw that it was actually a small flame that was burning perpetually. A flame that was sealed within a small oil lamp. From his position outside the lamp, he couldn't feel the flames warmth. He needed to get it out.

"**Stop. That fire is not for you to use."**

He clawed at the container with all his might, desperately trying to find a means of opening it.

"**This is my final warning. If you release that flame then you will not be able to put it back on your own. Power it will provide you, but with a curse it will bind you."**

He finally managed to find the latch.

"**... Very well. If that is what you wish, then I cannot force you to stop. Just remember; no matter what comes next, I will always be at your side... my son."**

The top of the lamp was ripped open, and the world became a blaze.

**(-)**

*BAM!*

A fist slammed into the ground, the strength from the action causing cracks to form all across the palace floor and even on the arena itself. A wild blaze erupted on impact, summoning a firestorm that melted away the rubble into nothing and set fire to the stone walls of the palace.

"**Who said this was over?"**

Flames the color of blood wreathed themselves around Natsu's body, and created a demented-looking silhouette.

The monster turned to face Natsu once more.

"**I'm still standing. And I ain't going down anytime soon~."**

The pinkette exploded into motion and slammed into the monster like a burning meteor. His fist made contact with the monsters face, and utterly obliterated it. Nothing was left behind from the attack, not even ashes. The flames continued onward without stopping, blasting their way through the palace walls, tearing a path across the arena floor, and threatened to take a massive chunk out of the stadium, if it wasn't for the fast acting of one Chaldea's members.

To the utter shock of the entire audience, the young girl Abigail from Chaldea's team moved to face the torrent of death that was barreling towards the stands. She had been muttering something under her breath with her eyes closed, even as the flames grew closer.

There was a bright flash of light, temporarily blinding all those who were looking accompanied by the sound of... something. A something that nobody wanted to find out about.

"Qliphoth Rhizome! The Hollow Tree Brimming with Husks of Light!"

When the light finally managed to die down and everyones vision returned to them, they were greeted by the sight of a massive crater in the arena which Abigail was standing in front of. Natsu's attack was gone, and the wizard himself had collapsed to the ground while barely managing to remain conscious.

Needless to say, silence reigned throughout the stadium.

"... Okay, I think I see the demon-thing that Tamamo was talking about."

**(-)**

Arriving back at Chaldea's main facility, Gudako was making her way to the summoning room when she suddenly felt as if she missed something extremely important. However she would worry about that later. For the moment, Da Vinci seemed to be in quite the tizzy about the summoning system.

"I wonder how this problem is gonna turn out." the girl wondered aloud before reaching her destination. "Alright Da Vinci, what do you need me for?"

Looking particularly excited, the famous inventor beckoned the female Master over. "While I have yet to determine the root of the problem, I have managed to create a workaround that should help us in figuring out just what is wrong with the system."

"That's good I suppose." the red-head opined with a nod. "What is it?"

Da Vinci grinned. "A summoning."

Gudako gave the Chaldea staff member a highly skeptical look. "You want to fix the problem by potentially exacerbating the problem? That's like trying to put out a fire with gasoline."

"So what I need you to do is just perform another summoning as you usually would, whilst I monitor the procedure and trace the problem back to its source."

"... You just completely ignored me, didn't you?"

"Now you better hurry up and get the ritual started before something else happens."

Releasing a small sigh at her concerns being dismissed, Gudako decided to just move forward and hope nothing goes wrong. Standing at the edge of the circle, she held up her hand and began the chant required for the summoning ritual.

"Let-"

*BOOM*

Being knocked on her but before even finishing the first line of the chant was far from what she expected. She thought she'd at least get halfway through before things went wrong. But no, they decided to go wrong immediately. Smoke had quickly filled the room, obscuring whatever the summoning resulted in, and the sound of the alarms blaring did little to help the situation.

"Success!" Da Vinci cheered from behind cover.

"How is this a success?!" demanded an irate Gudako. "All we did was blow up the room!"

Da Vinci smirked and pressed the button to activate the rooms ventilation system for clearing up the smoke. "On the contrary, the summoning -while more volatile than usual- was still completed!"

"... I didn't even finish saying the first line!"

"Hah, guess that just means we're special." came an unfamiliar female voice.

"Yeah! We are special! But in the good 'we're really interesting' special, not the 'we're dangerous because we cause unexplained explosions' special." came another female voice, albiet younger.

When the smoke finally cleared, it revealed the appearance of the two newcomers who arrived via the summoning ritual. The first was a tall black-haired woman who looked to be in her late twenties to early thirties, wearing a pair of form-fitting jeans, a blue shirt, and a white coat with a fur trim. The second was a young girl with long platinum-blonde hair which had a pair of wing-shaped pins on the sides of her head. She was dressed in a flowing gown with a frilly half-cape and barefoot.

"Hey, Servant Archer here!" the older woman greeted with a quick wave. "Never really been in a situation like this before, so I hope I'm not too much of a handful for you."

The younger girl spun on her heel before jumping up in excitement. "Hi there! It's nice to meet you! I'm Servant Caster, and I can't wait to go on adventures with you and make new friends!"


	9. Interlude

Mavis Vermillion

Class: Caster

Profile: A girl who lacks any form of accomplishments known to the public or otherwise, it shouldn't be possible for her to be summoned as a Servant. Although her older self meets the base requirements to be summoned, the curse of Ankserahm has left her in a state of being both alive and dead at the same time, which has placed her in a type of limbo outside the Throne of Heroes. Due to the contradictory nature of her current existence, the summoning ritual was diverted to bring forth a version of her that lacked the curse, allowing her to manifest in the present.

This is the Mavis who grew up on Tenrou Island and has never known the world beyond its shores. A young girl who is exceedingly smart, but is without any of the experience that her older counterpart is famous for. Her abilities are sorely lacking, she is naive but clever, and suffers from several mental ailments, including PTSD and psychosis.

In the end, Mavis is a girl who whilst small in the grand scheme of things, still holds the potential for greatness.

Skills

Illusion EX: Apply invincible for all allies (1 turn) and decrease Critical Hit rate for all enemies (3 turns)

Fairy Strategist A+: Increase ATK for all allies (3 turns) and gain a small amount of C. Stars (3 turns)

Denial of Reality A: Apply Guts (1 time, 3 turns) and increase Max HP (5 turns)

Class Skills

Territory Creation A

Magic Resistance C

Parameters

STR: E

AGL: D

LUK: C

END: E+

MP: A

NP: A++

Alignment: Lawful Good

Noble Phantasm: Tenrou Island, Home of the Fairies

Rank: A++

Type: Anti-Army

Deal damage to all opponents (1 turn), and restore HP and NP for all allies (3 turns), and increase damage for all allies who are members of Fairy Tail (3 turns) [effect increases with Overcharge]

Superficially similar to a Reality Marble, Mavis temporarily manifests a replication of Tenrou Island. While active, all units with a Fairy Tail affiliation will receive numerous buffs, along with support from the various wild beasts that call the island home.

**(-)**

Ur Milkovich

Class: Archer

Profile: While not the most famous of Fiore's mages, Ur's name was still well known to the inhabitants of the north. Considered at the time to be the Kingdom's strongest ice mage, she preferred to live a more quiet life, and thus would often move locations in order to evade any government agents who wished to summon her to the capitol. Many consider her to be one of the few 'unofficial' Wizard Saints.

Her life came to an end when she sacrificed herself in order to seal away Deliora, the Demon of Calamity from the Book of Zeref.

Skills

Frozen Embrace A: Apply Stun to 1 enemy (1 turn)

Tactical Stripping (Rapid Casting B+): Increase NP Gauge and gain a small amount of Critical Stars

Frozen Wall of Thorns A+: Apply Invincible to self (1 turn) and reflect 50% of damage taken back to enemy (does not apply to NP attacks)

Class Skills

Independent Action B

Territory Creation C

Parameters

STR: A

AGL: B+

LUK: C

END: A+

MP: A

NP: EX~B+

Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Noble Phantasm: Iced Shell (fake)

Inflict Stun (1 turn) and deal significant damage to a single enemy [effect increases with Overcharge], and sacrifice a portion of HP [Demerit]

Rank: EX~B+

Type: Anti-Unit

A limited release of Ur's most powerful spell, dropping its Rank considerably. Instead of permanently trapping a single opponent in unbreakable ice and sapping their life away over the course of time, she sacrifices a portion of her health to temporarily freeze the enemy and rob them of their strength.


End file.
